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THE  LIBRARY  OF  THE 

UNIVERSITY  OF 

NORTH  CAROLINA 


THE  COLLECTION  OF 

NORTH  CAROLINIANA 

FROM  THE  UBRARY  OF 


^et    r>C    in    


UNIVERSITY  OF  N.C.  AT  CHAPEL  HILL 


00032745968 


This  book  must  not 
be  taken  from  the 
Library  building. 


Form  No.   471 


american  fjietoric  Cowne 


Historic  Towns  of  New  England 

Edited  by  Lyman  P.  Powell.  With  Intro- 
duction  by  George  P.  Morris.  Fully  illustrated. 
Large  8",  ««■/ $3.00. 

Histot  ic  Towns  of  the  Middle  States 

Edited  by  Lym.vn  P.  Powell.  With  Intro- 
duction by  Albert  Shaw.  Fully  illustrated. 
Large  S'\  uet  $3.00. 

Historic  Towns  of  the  Southern  States 

Edited  by  Lyman  P.  Powell.  With  Intro- 
duction by  W.  P.  Trent.  Fully  illustrated. 
Large  8°,  net  $3.00. 

Historic  Towns  of  the  Western  States 

Edited  by  Lyman  P.  Powell.  With  Intro- 
duction by  R.  G.  Thvvaites,  Fully  illustrated. 
Large  8°,  net%i.oo. 


G.  P.  PUTNAM'S  SONS,  New  York  and  London 


Bmertcan  Ibietoiic  Zomw 

HISTORIC  TOWNS 

OF  THE 

SOUTHERN  STATES 


Edited  by 

LYMAN  P.  POWELL 


Illustrated 


G.  P.  PUTNAM'S  SONS 
NEW  YORK  &  LONDON 
Zbe  IRnicl^erbocher  press 

1904 


Copyright,  igoo 

BV 

G.  P.  PUTNAM'S  SONS 


TTbe  'Rnicfteibocftci-  piese,  IRcw  ItJorft 


PREFACE 


THE  triad  of  volumes  dealing  with  the  older 
American  Historic  Tozutis  along  or  near 
the  eastern  coast  is  now  complete.  The  three 
volumes,  like  the  chapters  of  which  they  are 
composed,  have  their  inevitable  limitations. 
While  neither  in  historical  value  nor  in  literary 
quality  has  it  proved  practicable  to  secure  a 
uniformity  of  standard,  editor  and  contributors 
have  done  the  best  they  could,  and  they  now 
feel  assured  that  the  series  has  proved  its 
right  to  exist.  It  is  quickening  interest  in  our 
historic  towns,  bringing  to  light  important 
facts,  picturing  for  the  patriotic  reader  who 
may  not  be  free  to  make  personal  visits  the 
places  he  would  visit  if  he  could,  and  making 
clear  to  him  many  things  he  would  not  be 
likely  to  learn  in  the  towns  themselves,  how- 
ever long  a  stay  he  might  be  free  to  make. 


IV 


Preface 


Like  the  preceding:  issues,  this  volume  has 
a  patriotic  and  educational  purpose,  but  it  goes 
forth  also  on  an  irenic  mission.  The  editor's 
father,  dead  almost  a  quarter  of  a  century,  lived 
in  a  little  border  town  where  in  war  times  love 
and  hate  alike  were  hot.  An  avowed  and 
fearless  Unionist,  he  was  also  a  true  and  faith- 
ful pacificator.  As  Mr.  Rule  has  said  of  Louis- 
ville, James  B.  R.  Powell  "occupied  a  position 
similar  to  that  of  Tennyson's  sweet  little  hero- 
ine, Annie,  who,  sitting  between  Enoch  and 
Philip,  with  a  hand  of  each  in  her  own,  would 
weep, 

"  '  And  pray  them  not  to  quarrel  for  her  sake.'  " 

hi  planning  and  in  shaping  this  volume,  the 
editor  hopes  that  he  is  proving  himself  worthy 
of  an  honored  father,  whose  name  he  would 
connect  in  this  way  with  the  work  and  with  the 
series. 

His  special  acknowledgments  are  due  to 
his  wife,  Gertrude  Wilson  Powell,  for  discrimi- 
nating and  invaluable  assistance  at  every  stage, 
and  to  Professor  W.  P.  Trent,  who,  in  addition 
to  the  preparation  of  a  comprehensive  Intro- 
duction, has  ever  been  ready  with  such  counsel 


Preface  v 

and  suggestions  as  enhance  in  many  ways  the 
value  of  the  volume. 

Lyman  P.  Powell. 
St.  John's  Rectory, 

Lansdowne,  Pennsylvania. 
August  lo,  1900. 


CONTENTS 


Baltimore 

St.  George  L.  Sioussat 

PAGE 
I 

Annapolis 

Sara  Andrew  Shafer  .  ■ 

47 

Frederick  Town     . 

Sara  Andrew  Shafer   . 

75 

Washington    . 

Frank  A.  Vanderlip    . 

lOI 

Richmond    on    the 

James    . 

William  Wirt  Henry   . 

•      i5f 

Williamsburg 

Lyon  G.  Tyler    . 

•      185 

Wilmington     . 

Joseph  Blount  Cheshire 

219 

Charleston     . 

Yates  Snowden  . 

249 

Savannah 

Pleasant  Alexander  Stoval 

1     293 

Mobile     . 

Peter  J.  Hamilton 

327 

Montgomery  . 

George  Petrie     . 

379 

New  Orleans. 

Grace  King 

411 

Vicksburg 

H.  F.  Simrall      . 

433 

Knoxville 

Joshua  W.  Caldwell    . 

449 

Nashville 

Gates  P.  Thruston      . 

477 

Louisville 

Lucien  V.  Rule 

J503 

Little  Rock   . 

George  B.  Rose 

537 

St.  Augustine 

George  R.  Fairbanks  . 

557 

ILLUSTRATIONS 


PAGE 


The  Library  of  Congress,  Washington,  D.C.  Frontispiece 

BALTIMORE 
Old  Court-House  (1768)  and  Powder  Magazine        .         .         5 
From  an  old  print  in  the  possession  of  the  Maryland  His- 
torical Society. 
Edward  Fell,  in  Uniform  of  Provincial  Forces      .         .         6 
From    original    painting    in    possession    of    William    Fell 
Johnson. 

Moale's  Sketch  of  Baltimore  in  1752        ....       13 
From  the  original  in  the  possession  of  the  Maryland  His- 
torical Society. 

Battle  Monument ly 

Mount  Clare,  1760,  Residence  of  Charles  Carroll,  Bar- 
rister  IQ 

Boos  House,  near  which  Lafayette's  Troops  Encamped        23 
John  Eager  Howard .27 

From   the   painting  by   Rembrandt   Peale,    owned   by   R. 
Bayard. 
St.  Paul's  Church 31 

From  an  old  copper  print,  owned  by  Rev.  J.  S.  B.  Hodges. 
Belvidere,  1786,  the  Home  of  Colonel  John  E.  Howard      35 

From  the  original  in  the  possession  of  the  Misses  McKim, 
Belvidere  Terrace,  Baltimore,  Md. 
Bust  of  Johns  Hopkins 43 

From  the  original  in  Johns  Hopkins  Hospital. 
Seal  of  Baltimore 45 


X  Illustrations 

ANNAPOLIS 

PACE 

George  Calvert,  First  Lord  Baltimore  ....  48 

Reproduced  from  an  old  print. 

Cecilius  Calvert,  Second  Lord  Baltimore        ...  49 

Reproduced  from  an  old  print. 

St.  John's  College  and  the  Treaty  Tree          •        •        •  55 

The  State  House *       .        .  57 

Charles  Carroll  of  Carrollton,  1737-1832      ...  60 
The  Old  House  of  Burgesses,  now  Used  as  the  State 

Treasury 61 

The  Brice  House 62 

The  Peggy  Stewart  House 64 

The  Burning  OF  the  "  Peggy  Stewart"    ....  65 

From  the  painting  by  Frank  B.  Mayer. 

The  Naval  Institute 69 

(Where  the  battle-flags  are  kept.) 
The  Old  Governor's  Mansion,  now  the  Naval  Academy 

Library 72 

The  Seal  of  the  Naval  Academy       .....  73 

FREDERICK   TOWN 

Prospect  Hall.     The  Dulany  Mansion    .        .        .        .81 

Rose  Hill,  the  Home  of  Governor  Thomas  Johnson      .  86 
Governor  Thomas  Johnson  and  Family     .         .        .        .89 
From  the  painting  by  Charles  Wilson  I'eale. 

Francis  Scott  Key 91 

Chief  Justice  Roger  B.  Taney 92 

The  Old  Reformed  Church        .        .         .        .       -.         -95 

Barbara  Frietchie 96 

Home  of  Barbara  Frietchie 97 

The  Hated  British  Tax-Stamp,  1765-1766         ...  99 


Illustrations  xi 

WASHINGTON 

PAUE 

Pierre  Charles  L'Enfant    . 105 

Statue  of  Gen.  Winfield  Scott,  Washington  .         .         .118 
The  Capitol 123 

From  the  Congressional  Library. 
The  City  of  Washington  in  1800 127 

From  an  old  print. 
The  White  House        .         .         .        • 129 

From  the  northeast. 
State,  War  and  Navy  Building 133 

From  the  southeast. 
The  "  Octagon    House  "  used   by  President  and   Mrs. 
Madison  during  the  Rebuilding  of  the  White 

House  in  1814 137 

Grand  Staircase  in  the   Hall   of  the  Congressional 

Library    .........     139 

The  United  States  Treasury 143 

From  the  southwest. 
Rotunda  of  the  Congressional  Library,  Washington     .     145 
Washington  Monument 149 

Looking  across  the  "  flats." 
The  Seal  of  the  District  of  Columbia      .        .        .        .150 

RICHMOND  ON    THE  JAMES 
Grave  of  Powhatan  on  the  James      .        .        .        .        .153 

Colonel  William  Evelyn  Byrd 157 

From  a  painting  by  Sir  Godfrey  Kneller 

Old  Stone  House,  Built  in  1737 160 

Bird's-eye  View  of  Richmond 163 

Washington  Monument  and  Capitol,   Richmond,    Vir- 
ginia           167 

Henry  Clay 169 

The  Marshall  House,  Richmond,  Virginia       .        .        .  172 

Richmond  in  Flames 177 


xii  Illustrations 

PAGE 

Monument  to  General  Robert  E.  Lee,  Richmond    .         .179 

The  White  House  of  the  Confederacy,  Richmond  180 

Monument  over  Confederate  Dead  at  Hollywood         .  181 

Seal  of  Richmond 1S3 

WILLIAMSBURG 

"  Old  Powder-horn  " 186 

Interior  of  Bruton  Parish  Church  at  Williamsburg,  Va.  189 

College  of  William  and  Mary 193 

Jacobus  Blair 195 

The  founder  of  William  and  Mary  College. 

Benj.  S.  Ewell 197 

John  Tyler,  Sr 200 

Mary  Cary,  Washington's  Early  Lovk,      ....  205 

Chief  Justice  Marshall 209 

George  Wythe 213 

John  Tyler,  President  OF  the  United  States  .        .  215 

Seal  OF  William  and  Mary  College  ....  217 

WILMINGTON 

Residence  of  James  Sprunt 223 

Formerly  the  residence  of  Governor  Dudley. 

St.  Paul's  Church,  Edenton,  N.  C,  from  the  Southeast.  225 

Begun  in  1736. 

Harnett's  House,  "  Hilton,"  near  Wilmington       .         .  230 

"Orton  House" 232 

The  Walls  of  St.  Philip's  Church,  Brunswick                  .  234 
Showing  part  of  the  comer-stone  broken  out  and  rifled  by 
Federal  soldiers  in  1865. 
Commission   of    Louis    de  Rosset    as    Captain    in   the 
French  Army,  Signed  by  Louis  XIV.,  and  Counter- 
signed BY  Tellier 237 

Hugh  Waddell 239 


Illustrations  xiii 

PAGE 

William  Hooper  of  North  Carolina,  Signer  of  the  Dec- 
laration OF  Independence 241 

Headquarters  of  Lord  Cornwallis,  Wilmington    .        .  243 

Commission  of    Louis  de  Rosset  as  Captain,  Given  by 

William  and  Mary    .......  245 

Seal  of  Wilmington     ........  247 

CHARLESTON 

Plan  of  Charleston 253 

From  a  survey  by  Edward  Crisp  in  1704. 
St.  Philip's  Church,  Charleston        .....     255 

A  Modern  Charleston  Residence 259 

Defence  of  Fort  Moultrie 263 

From  a  painting  by  J.  A.  Oertel. 
The  Attack  on  Fort  Moultrie  by  the  British  Fleet, 

1776 265 

Philadelphia  Street  (Coon  Alley) 279 

Scene  in  rear  of  St.  Philip's  Church. 
The  Attack  on  Charleston  by  the  Federal  Ironclad 

Fleet,  April  7,  1863        .         .        .        .        .        .     281 

Major-General  William  Moultrie 285 

From  a  painting  by  Col.  J.  Trumbull. 

St.  Michael's  Church,  Charleston 289 

Seal  of  Charleston 292 

SAVANNAH 

The  Post  Office 295 

House  where  the  Colonial  Legislature  Assembled  in 

1782 297 

Headquarters  of  Washington  during  a  Visit  to  Sa- 
vannah       299 

The  Jasper  Monument 303 

The  Burial  Place  of  Tomochichi 307 

Christ  Church ,        .        .        .  309 


xiv  Illustrations 

PAGE 

Oaks  at  Bethesda  Orphanage  under  which  Whitefield 

Preached 310 

Great  Seal  of  Georgia  in  Colonial  Days  .         .        .312 

Old  Fort,  where  Powder  Magazine  was  Seized  in  1775  .  314 

General  Oglethorpe 316 

Count  Casimir  Pulaski 319 

Fort  Pulaski 321 

R.  M.  Charlton,  Poet,  Jurist,  U.  S.  Senator  .        .        .  323 

Seal  of  Savannah 325 

MOBILE 

Facsimile  Page  of   Baptismal  Record  (1704)  with  the 

Autograph  of  Bienville 333 

Plan  of  Mobile  and  of  Fort  Louis  in  171  i        .        .        .  337 

The  Bay  Shell  Road  at  Lovers'  Lane       ....  343 

Mobile  in  1765 349 

The  Ellicott  Stone 351 

Place  where  Aaron  Burr  was  Captured   ....  354 

John  A.  Campbell 362 

Raphael  Semmes  in  1861 364 

C.  S.  S.  "  Florida"  Entering  Mobile  Bay,  Sept.  4,  1862  367 
From  a  painting  by  R.  S.  Floyd. 

Home  of  Augusta  Evans  Wilson 373 

Augusta  Evans  Wilson 376 

Seal  of  Mobile 378 

MONTGOMERY 

Old  Cannon  of  Bienville 380 

Dexter  Avenue  during  a  Street  Pair        .        .        ,        .  387 
Old  Building  in  which  Lafayette  Ball  was  Given  in 

1825 389 

Alabama  State  Capitol  where  President  Davis  was  In- 
augurated    396 


Illustrations  xv 

P4GE 

PiRST  Page  of  the  Permanent  Constitution  of  the  Con- 
federate States,  as  Reported  by  the  Committee  401 
This  is  in  the  handwriting  of  Gen.  Thos.  R.  R.  Cobb, 
who  was  a  member  of  the  committee.  Taken  from  the 
original,  which  is  in  the  possession  of  Mr.  A.  L.  Hull, 
Athens,  Ga. 
The     Permanent    Constitution    of    the    Confederate 

States 403 

As  reported  by  committee  and  amended  by  Congress,  is  in 
the  possession  of  the  daughter  of  Mr.  Alex.  B.  Clitherall, 
Mrs.  A.  C.  Birch,  Montgomery,  Ala. 
The  Pollard  Residence,  Built  before  the  War  .  .  406 
Monument  to  Confederate  Soldiers  Erected  on  the 
Capitol  Grounds  by  the  Ladies'  Memorial  Asso- 
ciation          407 

Jefferson  Davis 408 

Seal  of  Montgomery 410 

NEW  ORLEANS 

Tomb  of  Avar,  City  Park 413 

The  Custom-House,  New  Orleans 415 

Chartres  Street  and  Cathedral 419 

The  Ursulines  Convent 421 

The  Jackson  Monument 423 

Canal  Street,  New  Orleans 427 

The  Cabildo,  Old  Court  Building,  Jackson  Square        .  428 

St.  Fries  Cathedral 429 

Seal  of  New  Orleans 431 

VICKSBURG 

Meeting    of  Generals  Grant  and  Pemberton  at  the 
"Stone  House"  inside  the  Rebel  Works  on  the 

Morning  OF  July  4,  1863 435 

(From  an  actual  sketch  made  on  the  spot  by  one  of  the 
special  artists  of  Frank  Leslie' s  Illustrated  Newspaper, 
now  in  the  collection  of  Major  George  Haven  Putnam.) 


xvi  Illustrations 


PAGE 


General  U.  S.  Grant 442 

Plan  of  the  Siege  of  Vicksburg 445 

Seal  of  Vicksburg 447 

KNOXVILLE 

John  Sevier,  First  Governor  of  Tennessee      .         .        .  450 

William  Blount,  Governor  of  Southwest  Territory  452 

University  of  Tennessee 459 

Hugh  L.  White 464 

Admiral  Farragut 465 

William  G.  Brownlow,  the  "  Fighting  Parson  "     .        .  467 

Battle  of  Fort  Saunders 473 

Seal  of  Knoxville 475 

NASHVILLE 

James  Robertson 481 

The  First  Residence  of  Andrew  Jackson  .         .        .  483 

Fort  Ridley,  an  Old  Nashville  Blockhouse   .        .        .  485 

Andrew  Jackson 489 

The  Hermitage  Mansion,  Residence  of  Andrew  Jackson  491 

James  K.  Polk 493 

Tomb  of  James  K.  Polk,  Nashville 495 

The  State  House 497 

The  Parthenon,  Nashville,  Tenn 499 

Seal  of  Nashville 501 

LOUISVILLE 

George  D.  Prentice 505 

From  an  old  painting  owned  by  the  Polytechnic  Society  of 
Kentucky. 

Daniel  Boone 508 

From  a  painting  in  the  possession  of  Col.  R.  T.  Durrett, 
Louisville,  Ky. 


Illustrations 


XVll 


PAGE 

George  Rogers  Clark cjo 

From  a  painting  in  the  possession  of  Col.  R.  T.  Durrett, 
Louisville,  Ky. 
Blockhouse  and  Log  Cabins  on  Corn  Island,  1778,  First 

Settlement  OF  Louisville,  Ky 513 

From  an  old  pri»t  y»  the  possession  of  Col.  R.  T.  Durrett, 
Louisville,  Ky. 
Residence  of  George  Rogers  Clark   on  the   Indiana 

Shore,  opposite  Louisville eig 

From  an  old  print  in  the  possession  of  Col.  R.  T.  Durrett, 
Louisville,  Ky. 

The  City  Hall ^jg 

On  the  Tobacco  Breaks 523 

The  Keats  House  (The  Elks  Building)     .        .        .        .527 
The  Court-House         ........     520 

A  Scene  at  the  Wharf 533 

Seal  of  Louisville       ........     535 

LITTLE    ROCK 

The  "  Little  Rock,"  to  which  the  City  Owes  its  Name  539 

Little  Rock  Levee c  10 

New  State  House 5_^3 

Old  State  House 5^5 

The  House  where  the  Arkansas  Legislature  was  Held 

IN  1835 546 

Albert  Pike c  ,^ 

Robert  Crittenden c  .g 

The  Old  Fowler  Mansion g^q 

Now  the  residence  of  John  M.  Gracie. 

The  Crittenden  Residence 550 

The  first  brick  house  built  in  Little  Rock.    Now  the  home 
of  Governor  James  P.  Eagle. 

The  Old  Pike  Mansion 551 

Now  the  residence  of  Colonel  John  G.  Fletcher. 


xviii  Illustrations 

PAGE 

■CUSTOM-HoUSE  AND  POST  OkFICE 554 

Little  Rock  University 555 

ST.  AUGUSTINE 

The  Old  City  Gate 558 

Pedro  Menendez  de  Aviles,  Founder  of  St.  Augustine  .  560 

Old  Forge 562 

Old  Spanish  Fort  on  Matanzas  River       .        .        .        .565 

The  Oldest  House  in  St.  Augustine  ....  569 

Ruins  of  the  Old  Spanish  Fort  at  Matanzas  Inlet         .  573 

Hotel  Ponce  de  Leon 579 

Seal  OF  St.  Augustine 581 


INTRODUCTION 


By  W.   p.  TRENT 


pROBABLY  the  first  feeling  of  the  reader 
*    who  glances  over  the  table  of  contents  of 
this  volume  will  be  one  of  surprise  at  the  num- 
ber of  Southern  towns  of  historical  importance 
that  the  editor  has  seen  fit  and  been  able  to 
include.      Neither  from  our  study  of  American 
history  nor  from  our  study  of  geography  have 
we  been  led  to  look  upon  the  Southern  States 
as  a  region  characterized   by   urban   develop- 
ment.    Those   of  us  who   took  the  pains    to 
examine   the  statistics  of   the  census  of   1890 
remember  that  the  South  stood  far  behind  the 
other  sections  in  this  respect.      We  remember, 
too,  to  have  seen  in  our  histories  the  thickly 
settled  New  England  township  contrasted  with 
the   large,  sparsely    settled   Southern   county. 
In  literature  the  South  has  figured  as  a  region 
of  plantations  and  manor  houses  inhabited  by 


XX  Introduction 

cavaliers  and  chatelaines  and  old  family  slaves, 
possessors  of  all  the  feudal  virtues,  or  else  as 
the  home  of  a  curious  race,  presumably  Cau- 
casian, known  as  "crackers,"  and  of  equally 
curious  mountaineers  known  as  "  moonshiners." 
An  exception  is  made,  of  course,  in  favor  of 
New  Orleans,  the  home  of  the  Creole  and  the 
carnival ;  of  Charleston,  the  home  of  secession  ; 
of  Richmond,  the  home  of  the  Confederate 
government ;  and  of  St.  Augustine,  the  home 
of  hotels  ;  but  on  the  whole  it  is  probable  that 
the  average  American  of  other  sections,  unless 
he  be  a  drummer  or  a  valetudinarian  tourist, 
rarely  thinks  of  the  South  from  the  point  of 
view  of  its  towns,  historic  or  unhistoric. 

For  this  state  of  affairs  no  one  is  to  blame. 
The  great  growth  of  municipalities  in  the 
North,  East  and  West  —  the  colossal  develop- 
ment of  New  York,  Chicago  and  Philadelphia, 
of  Boston  and  Baltimore  and  a  dozen  other 
great  cities  —  has  naturally  cast  in  the  shade 
the  urban  status  of  a  section  that  contains  no 
city  of  three  hundred  thousand  inhabitants.  It 
is  true  that  much  is  heard  of  the  New  South 
with  its  commercial  future  ;  but  probably  the 
pushing  Atlanta  is  almost  the  only  Southern 
city  that  has  in  the  last  few  decades  impressed 


Introduction  xxi 

itself  to  any  marked  degree  upon  the  nation's 
consciousness. 

Nor  is  it  surprising  that  it  is  only  since  the 
Civil  War  that  the  urban  development  of  the 
South  has  begun  to  be  of  importance  even  to 
close  students  of  the  past  and  present  of  the 
section.  From  the  time  of  the  earliest  settle- 
ments to  the  present  day  agriculture  has  been 
the  dominant  industry.  Virginia  tobacco,  Car- 
olina indigo  and  rice,  far  Southern  and  South- 
western cotton  —  these  staples  have  meant 
more  to  the  South  than  manufacturing  or  com- 
merce. She  developed  seaports,  which  grad- 
ually lost  their  relative  standing  among  the 
ports  of  the  country  and  administrative  and 
distributing  centers  ;  but  there  was  no  crowd- 
ing of  operatives  into  manufacturing  towns,  no 
haste  on  the  part  of  country-bred  youths  to 
leave  their  native  fields  for  the  shops  and  ware- 
houses and  offices  of  the  city.  The  gentle- 
man's son  looked  forward  in  most  cases  to 
being  a  planter  ;  the  small  farmer's  son  grew  up 
in  an  environment  that  did  not  stimulate  am- 
bition. Cotton  was  king,  and  his  court  was 
bound  to  be  a  rural  one. 

It    is    not    to    be    supposed,    however,    that 
during   the   period  from   1820  to   i860,  which 


xxii  Introduction 

witnessed  the  amazing  growth  of  manufacturing 
and  commercial  centers  in  the  North  and  East 
and  the  still  more  wonderful  rural  and  urban 
development  of  the  West,  the  South  was  en- 
tirely content  with  the  spread  of  her  cotton- 
fields  and  oblivious  to  the  stagnation  or  the 
slow  growth  of  her  towns.  Her  country-gen- 
tleman class  was  doubtless  content  with  this 
state  of  affairs,  and  her  politicians  actually 
boasted  of  it,  being  put  on  the  defensive  in 
all  respects  on  account  of  the  attacks  made 
upon  slavery  ;  but  the  leading  inhabitants  of 
the  towns  regfretted  the  backwardness  of  their 
section  and  devised  various  schemes  for  remedy- 
ing it,  while  the  merchant  class  openly  com- 
plained of  the  fact  that  young  men  were  taught 
to  look  down  upon  every  pursuit  other  than 
planting.  This  is  but  to  say  that  the  people 
of  the  South  were  not  so  different  at  bottom 
from  their  hopeful,  energetic  fellow  citizens  of 
other  sections  as  has  sometimes  been  imagined. 
They  were  Americans  tied  down  to  one  occu- 
pation and  rendered  unprogressive  by  the  ham- 
pering influences  of  a  belated  institution. 

This  fact  does  not  appear  on  the  surface  ;  in- 
deed it  becomes  apparent  only  to  the  careful  stu- 
dent of  sources  of  which  the  Southern  historian 


Introduction  xxiii 

has  not  yet  made  full  use.  These  sources 
are  the  local  newspapers  and  the  fairly  numer- 
ous magazines  —  particularly  the  financial  and 
commercial  De  Bow's  Review  published  at  New 
Orleans.  The  Southern  historian,  like  his 
brothers  of  the  North  and  East  until  recently, 
has  laid  disproportionate  stress  upon  the  colo- 
nial history  of  his  section  or  else  upon  its  polit- 
ical history,  and  thus  has  failed  to  bring  out 
the  interesting  struggle  between  the  old  and 
the  new  economic  orders  of  thinofs  that  took 
place  in  the  South  down  to  the  time  of  the 
Civil  War.  Hence  it  is  that  in  the  present 
volume  we  find  in  many  chapters  the  gap  be- 
tween the  surrender  at  Yorktown  and  the  fir- 
ing upon  Sumter  covered  by  only  a  few  para- 
graphs. Some  of  the  towns  had  a  most  in- 
teresting history  during  these  years, —  as  we 
may  judge  from  Dr.  Petrie's  chapter  on  Mont- 
gomery,—  but  it  has  not  yet  been  written. 

When  it  is,  we  shall  get  abundant  evidence 
of  a  heroic  if,  on  the  whole,  unsuccessful  strug- 
gle for  urban  development.  Charleston  in 
particular  made  a  most  gallant  fight  to  recover 
the  importance  as  a  port  which  she  had  lost 
through  the  rivalry  of  Baltimore  and  New 
Orleans.      Her  leading  citizens,  some  of  whom 


xxiv  Introduction 

labored  for  the  cause  of  public  education  and 
of  literary  and  scientific  development  with  an 
earnestness  that  should  not  be  forgotten  in 
spite  of  the  paucity  of  results,  saw  clearly  that 
something  must  be  done  to  enhance  the  city's 
wealth  and  growth  if  the  State  herself,  or,  in- 
deed, the  section,  was  to  maintain  an  important 
place  in  the  union  of  rapidly  developing  com- 
monwealths. They  saw,  furthermore,  what 
this  somethinor  must  be.  The  cotton  of  the 
South  and  the  agricultural  and  other  products 
of  the  great  West  must  be  drawn  away  from 
Northern  ports  to  ships  lying  in  the  harbor  of 
Charleston,  The  distance  to  be  traversed  and 
the  mountain  barriers  made  all  thought  of  a 
canal  similar  to  the  one  that  had  brouQrht  fortune 
to  New  York  out  of  the  question,  and  the  hopes 
of  enterprising  citizens  centered  on  the  newly 
invented  railway.  As  early  as  1831  the  first 
steam  locomotive  used  successfully  on  rails  in 
this  country  was  put  on  its  tracks  at  Charles- 
ton by  the  South  Carolina  Railroad  Company, 
and,  as  Mr.  Snowden  tells  us  in  his  chapter,  the 
longest  railway  in  the  world  was  at  one  time 
contained  within  the  borders  of  what  is  not 
familiarly  known  as  a  progressive  State.  It 
was  but  a  short  time  before  ambitious  plans 


Introduction  xxv 

were  set  on  foot  to  connect  Charleston  with 
Cincinnati  and  the  West. 

The  full  story  of  these  plans  —  of  the  faith- 
ful labor  expended  upon  them,  and  of  their 
ultimate  failure,  throuo-h  no  fault  of  the  unself- 
ish  promoters  —  belongs  to  another  place  ;  but 
a  few  words  upon  the  subject  may  be  pardoned 
here  on  account  of  the  light  that  will  be  thrown 
upon  the  difficulties  encountered  by  every 
ante-bellum  Southern  city  in  its  efforts  at  prog- 
ress. The  first  steps  taken  by  the  friends 
of  the  Louisville,  Cincinnati  and  Charleston 
Railroad  Company  were  comparatively  easy. 
Charters  were  obtained  from  several  States, 
enthusiastic  conventions  of  promoters  were 
held,  engineers  were  put  into  the  field  to  de- 
cide between  competing  routes,  and  popular 
subscriptions  to  the  stock  were  opened  in  most 
of  the  towns  and  villages.  By  November, 
1836,  South  Carolina  alone  had  subscribed  for 
nearly  $2,775,000  of  the  $4,000,000  needed  to 
start  the  enterprise.  Within  a  few  days  this 
latter  amount  was  made  up,  and  everything 
looked  bright.  But  Governor  McDuffie  in  his 
annual  message  pointed  out  unforeseen  obsta- 
cles. Kentucky  had  subscribed  only  $200,000, 
and  yet  claimed  six  directors  out  of  twenty-four  ; 


xxvi  Introduction 

Ohio  had  subscribed  almost  nothing.  Why 
should  South  Carolina  cover  Kentucky  with 
railroads  ?  Why,  again,  should  the  promo- 
ters of  the  enterprise  wish  for  banking  privi- 
leges when  the  whole  country  was  crowded 
with  banks  already  ?  He  urged  the  legisla- 
ture to  withhold  the  desired  subscription  of 
$1,000,000  until  the  success  of  the  road  was 
more  fully  assured.  His  advice  was  not  fol- 
lowed, but  we  may  learn  two  important  facts 
from  his  remarks  :  first,  that  the  South  suf- 
fered from  the  crude  financial  methods  and  the 
fever  for  speculation  that  afflicted  the  rest  of 
the  country.  Second,  that  State  jealousy  was 
a  rock  upon  which  any  great  Southern  scheme 
was  liable  to  split.  The  theory  of  States-rights 
united  the  Southern  commonwealths  politically 
against  the  other  sections,  but  in  internal  matters 
it  was  a  disintegrating  agent  of  great  potency. 
The  promoters  of  the  road  were  not  dis- 
couraged, however,  by  Governor  McDuffie's 
pessimism.  They  organized  their  bank,  pur- 
chased the  road  which  already  connected 
Charleston  and  Augusta,  known  as  "  The 
Charleston  and  Hamburg,"  began  a  branch  to 
connect  the  State  capital,  Columbia,  with  this 
road,  and  commenced  to  realize  on  the  popular 


Introduction  xxvii 

subscriptions  to  the  stock.  But  they  had  not 
counted  on  the  panic  of  1837  and  the  continu- 
ing financial  depression,  in  the  midst  of  which 
their  bank  was  forced  to  suspend,  nor  had  they 
expected  to  lose  by  death  their  efficient  presi- 
dent, Robert  Y.  Hayne,  Webster's  famous 
opponent.  The  great  interstate  scheme  soon 
shrank  to  state  proportions  ;  and  by  1842  peo- 
ple were  congratulating  themselves  that  they 
had  at  least  a  gratifying  extent  of  railway  mile- 
age within  the  borders  of  South  Carolina  itself. 
This  seems  a  small  return  for  a  large  outlay  of 
energy,  yet  after  a  careful  study  of  the  compli- 
cated history  of  the  road  it  can  scarcely  be  said 
that  General  Hayne  and  his  associates  made 
as  bad  a  compromise  with  their  magnificent 
dreams  as  the  majority  of  our  more  recent  rail- 
way promoters  have  done.  Certainly  the  way 
in  which  the  public  responded  to  their  efforts 
spoke  well  for  the  energy  and  the  civic  intelli- 
gence of  a  people  of  planters.  The  effects  of 
the  panic  and  of  Western  indifference  could 
hardly  have  been  foreseen  ;  the  banking  at- 
tachment was  natural  enoug-h  in  an  era  of  wild 
banking  to  which  the  lessons  of  experience 
were  wanting ;  and,  finally,  the  method  of 
securing  capital  by  instalments  of  subscription, 


xxviii  Introduction 

crude  as  it  may  seem,  was  almost  the  only 
available  one  among  a  people  whose  capital 
was  in  the  main  locked  up  in  land  and  negroes. 
We  are  warranted,  therefore,  in  concluding, 
from  these  early  efforts  to  connect  Charleston 
with  the  West,  and  from  later  railroad  enter- 
prises of  other  Southern  cities  that  cannot  be 
treated  here,  that  the  failure  of  the  antc-belhim 
South  to  show  a  marked  urban  development 
was  due  not  to  the  backwardness  and  inertia 
of  its  influential  citizens,  but  rather  to  unfavor- 
able economic  conditions  that  could  not  be 
speedily  overcome. 

The  student  of  Southern  history  will  reach 
this  conclusion  by  following  other  lines  of  inves- 
tigation. It  is  a  well-known  fact  that  in  the  dec- 
ade  before  the  Civil  War  annual  commercial 
conventions  were  held  in  the  leadincj  Southern 
cities.  These  conventions  tended  also  to  be- 
come political  in  character  and  furnished  an 
opportunity  for  the  exploitation  of  some  rather 
extreme  propositions,  such,  for  example,  as  that 
looking  to  the  reopening  of  the  foreign  slave- 
trade.  They  serve  to  illustrate  the  important 
part  played  by  the  ante-bellum  towns  in  devel- 
oping and  intensifying  the  movement  toward 
secession  ;  but  it  is  more  to  the  point  here  to 


Introduction  xxix 

observe  that  they  were  preceded  by  a  series  of 
conventions  more  strictly  commercial  in  char- 
acter— gatherings  that  did  all  they  could  to  stir 
up  the  people  of  the  South  to  the  need  of  urban 
development  and  to  open  their  eyes  to  the  fact 
that  their  section  was  yearly  falling  behind  in 
wealth  and  political  power.^ 

This  first  series  seems  to  have  begfun  with  a 
gathering  in  Augusta,  Georgia,  in  October, 
1837,  the  object  of  the  meeting  being  to  allow 
merchants  the  opportunity  to  discuss  projects 
for  developing  a  direct  trade  between  the 
South  and  Europe.  As  the  only  speeches 
that  caused  comment  were  made  by  two 
"Colonels"  and  a  "General,"  it  is  easy  to 
perceive  that  even  in  such  a  convention  the 
commercial  classes  were  overshadowed.  The 
delegates  met  twice,  however,  the  next  year, 
and  afterwards  at  Charleston  and  Macon,  the 
presence  of  delegates  from  all  the  Southern 
States  being  solicited  and  in  part  obtained. 
These  meetings  did  what  they  could  to  arouse 
the    South    to    commercial    activity,    on    one 

'  The  later  series  of  conventions  is  well  described  by  Mr.  Edward 
Ingle  in  his  interesting  and  valuable  volume,  based  mainly  upon 
magazine  and  newspaper  research,  entitled  Southern  Sidelights 
(pp.  220-261).  Mr.  Ingle  pays  but  slight  attention  to  the  earlier 
series,  which  seems  nowhere  to  have  been  fully  described. 


XXX  Introduction 

occasion  viewing  "  with  deep  regret  the  neglect 
of  all  commercial  pursuits  "  that  had  thitherto 
prevailed  among  the  youth  of  the  section. 
That  their  efforts  were  no  more  successful  than 
those  of  the  contemporary  railway  promoters 
proves  only  that  the  failure  of  urban  develop- 
ment in  the  South  was  due  not  to  the  su- 
pineness  of  the  entire  population  but  to  the 
presence  of  an  institution  during  the  existence 
of  which  agriculture  was  bound  to  be  the  para- 
mount industry.  It  is  interesting  to  notice 
that  these  efforts  toward  urban  development 
were  contemporaneous  with  and  in  answer  to 
the  agitation  of  the  early  abolitionists  ;  that 
they  practically  ceased  during  the  movement 
for  territorial  aggrandizement  in  Texas  and  the 
Far  West ;  and  that  they  began  in  full  force 
when  it  became  apparent  that  the  South  had 
gained  less  of  the  new  territory  than  she 
thouofht  she  would.  So  true  is  it  that  all 
Southern  history  has  a  political  background  ! 

It  is  not,  however,  desirable  that  the  present 
Introduction  should  degenerate  into  a  dry 
historical  essay  devoted  to  certain  obscure 
points  in  the  economic  history  of  the  South, 
although  it  does  seem  important  that  the 
reader    should    realize    that    the     citizens    of 


Introduction  xxxi 

Southern  towns  between  the  years  1800  and 
1 860  were  not  altogether  lacking  in  enterprise 
and  foresight.  Yet  the  period  mentioned  is  so 
interesting  in  many  ways  that  it  is  hard  to  leave 
it.  It  would  be  pleasant  to  sketch  briefly  the 
efforts  made  to  develop  literary  centers — 
especially  at  Richmond  and  Charleston :  the 
establishment  at  the  former  place  of  the 
SoutJicrn  Literary  Messenger,  forever  con- 
nected with  the  fame  of  Poe  ;  at  the  latter, 
of  the  earlier  and  the  later  Southern  Review 
and  of  Russell's  Magazine,  connected,  respec- 
tively, with  the  names  of  Hugh  S.  Legare,  Wil- 
liam Gilmore  Simms  and  the  ill-fated  Henry 
Timrod,  whose  genuine  poetical  genius  is 
slowly  being  recognized.  It  would  be  interest- 
ing, too,  to  discuss  the  political  influence 
wielded  by  such  newspapers  as  the  Richmond 
Enquirer  and  the  Charleston  Mercury.  A 
topic  no  less  important  is  the  effect  of  the 
classical  culture  undoubtedly  possessed  to  a 
considerable  degree  by  the  leading  citizens  of 
the  older  towns  upon  the  problem,  only  now 
being  solved  by  the  New  South,  of  affording 
every  child  a  free  and  sound  education.  A 
discussion  of  this  topic  would  naturally  lead 
one  to  inquire  into  the  status  of  the  lower  and 


xxxii  Introduction 

middle  classes  in  the  ante-bellum  Southern 
towns,  and  this  would  necessarily  carry  us  very 
far  afield.  Perhaps  the  best  way  to  break  the 
train  of  these  suggestions  and  reflections  is  to 
ask  the  reader  whether  he  would  ever  have 
thought  it  possible  for  a  German  immigrant  to 
become  a  day-laborer  in  a  Southern  town,  to 
save  enough  money  in  six  years  to  build  an 
important  bridge  and  wharf,  to  found  a  town 
of  his  own  which  soon  became  a  flourishing 
cotton  market  and  actually,  as  its  leading  per- 
sonage, to  enter  into  quasi-diplomatic  relations 
with  the  government  of  Hamburg,  Germany  ! 
Yet  all  this  actually  happened  in  the  "unpro- 
gressive  "  ante-bellum  South.  The  man's  name 
was  Henry  Schultz  ;  the  town  in  which  he 
made  his  fortune,  and,  sad  to  relate,  subse- 
quently lost  it,  was  Augusta,  Georgia  ;  the 
town  he  founded  was  Hamburg,  South  Car- 
olina, which  it  must  be  confessed  has  not 
become  a  metropolis  and  is  chiefly  known  in 
connection  with  certain  important  riots.^ 

'  Schultz  was  a  party  for  years  to  a  very  important  case  known  as 
"  John  W.  Yarborough  and  others  vs.  The  Bank  of  the  State  of 
Georgia,"  etc.,  for  documents  relating  to  which  I  am  indebted  to 
William  K.  Miller,  Esq.,  of  the  Augusta  bar.  The  interesting 
career  of  the  man  became  known  to  me  some  years  since  through  re- 
searches undertaken  in  the  early  volumes  of  the  Edgefield  (S.  C.) 
A  dvertiser. 


Introduction  xxxiii 

Next  to  the  large  number  of  towns  worthy 
to  be  included  in  the  volume,  perhaps  the  most 
striking  feature  is  the  fact  that  nearly  every 
town  described  has  experienced  the  vicissitudes 
of  war.  No  walls  of  long  standing  or  traces  of 
them  may  be  pointed  out  to  the  curious  vis- 
itor of  to-day,  but  battle-fields  there  are,  and  in 
more  than  one  instance  stories  may  be  told  of 
lonor- sustained  sieves  and  heroic  defences. 
The  Sunny  South  ought  naturally  to  be  a  land 
of  languorous  peace,  but  over  no  other  section 
have  the  clouds  of  war  rolled  so  heavily.  Its 
oldest  town,  St.  Augustine,  was  born  of  war. 
Baltimore  and  Washington  suffered  duringr  the 
War  of  1812,  and  the  latter  was  seriously 
threatened  during  the  War  for  the  Union. 
Frederick  Town  lives  in  our  memories  alone 
with  Stonewall  Jackson  and  Barbara  Fritchie. 
Before  Richmond  Lee  foiled  the  troops  of  Mc- 
Clellan,  and  the  gallant  capital,  after  four  years 
filled  with  high  hopes  and  reckless  gayety  and 
solemn  mourning,  surrendered  when  the  same 
undaunted  Lee  had  but  a  few  thousand  starv- 
ing veterans  to  oppose  to  the  splendid  and 
puissant  hosts  of  Grant.  The  ghosts  of  long- 
dead  cavaliers  must  have  shivered  when  the 
streets  of  Williamsburg  echoed  to  the  tramp  of 


xxxiv  Introduction 

soldiers  from  Puritan  New  England.  The 
name  of  Wilmington  brings  to  mind  the  dar- 
ing exploits  of  the  blockade-runners  ;  that  of 
Charleston  recalls  the  heroic  defence  of  Fort 
Moultrie,  the  occupation  by  the  British,  the 
threatened  bloodshed  of  the  Nullification  crisis, 
the  capture  of  Sumter  and  the  magnificent 
resistance  offered  the  Federal  arms  through- 
out the  Civil  War.  Like  Charleston,  Savan- 
nah can  tell  of  encounters  with  Spaniards 
and  British  undergone  gloriously  by  her  sons, 
although  she  doubtless  does  not  yet  relish  hav- 
ing been  Sherman's  Christmas  gift  to  the  na- 
tion. Mobile  and  New  Orleans  are  forever 
associated  with  the  illustrious  name  of  Farra- 
gut,  and  the  latter  can  boast  of  being  the 
scene  of  the  most  splendid  victory  in  our  an- 
nals, that  won  by  Jackson  and  his  backwoods- 
men over  the  picked  troops  of  Wellington. 
As  for  the  great  siege  of  Vicksburg  that  set  the 
seal  upon  Grant's  fame,  or  for  the  battle  of 
Nashville  that  gave  almost  equal  renown  to 
Thomas,  men  will  not  forget  them  even  when 
Tolstoi's  dreams  of  universal  peace  have  be- 
come a  blessed  reality. 

But    peace   hath    her    victories   no    less   re- 
nowned than  war,  as  these  chapters  all  tell  us  in 


Introduction  xxxv 

language  as  convincing  if  not  so  noble  as  that 
of  Milton.  The  history  of  the  brave  and  suc- 
cessful efforts  made  by  the  South  to  recover 
from  the  losses  of  the  war  and  from  the  still 
more  disastrous  effects  of  the  worst-devised 
legislation  ever  inflicted  upon  a  conquered 
people  cannot  yet  be  fully  written,  but  when  it 
is,  the  part  played  by  the  Southern  towns  will 
surely  be  paramount.  Population  and  busi- 
ness have  greatly  increased  in  the  urban  cen- 
ters ;  the  cause  of  truly  public  education  has 
been  fostered  to  a  remarkable  extent ;  political 
prejudices  have  waned  ;  respect  for  human  life 
has  increased  ;  and,  finally,  a  true  national  spirit 
has  been  developed.  Much  remains  to  be 
done  in  the  way  of  municipal  improvements, — 
for  example  in  the  founding  of  public  libraries, 
—  but  the  history  of  the  past  thirty-five  years 
warrants  us  in  believing  that  the  citizens  of 
the  Southern  towns  will  be  able  to  work  out 
their  own  salvation.  The  outlook  for  the  ru- 
ral districts,  where  the  commission  merchant 
has  his  liens  and  mortgages,  where  ignorance 
and  lack  of  thrift  foster  political  unrest,  where 
race  hatred  is  partly  extenuated,  by  its  causes 
and  wholly  discredited  by  its  results,  is  less 
hopeful  but  still  by  no  means  hopeless. 


xxxvi  Introduction 

The  present  volume,  however,  deals  with 
what  has  been  rather  than  with  what  is  or  will 
be,  and,  as  has  been  already  remarked,  mainly 
with  what  took  place  before  even  our  great- 
grandfathers were  born.  To  some  of  us  the 
history  of  our  fathers'  times  is  more  interesting 
than  the  story  of  what  remoter  ancestors  did, 
even  though  the  costumes  and  the  furniture  of 
the  former  are  by  no  means  so  picturesque  as 
those  of  the  latter.  But  tot  Jioinines,  tot  scji- 
tentics.  To  Colonial  Dames,  and  Sons  and 
Daughters  of  the  American  Revolution,  and 
readers  of  the  Colonial  and  Revolutionary  ro- 
mances that  are  in  such  vogue,  many  pages  of 
this  book  ought  to  prove  both  interesting  and 
instructive.  Nor  are  devotees  of  the  modern 
wholly  unprovided  for,  and  the  special  student 
finds  matter  for  reflection.  He  can  speculate, 
for  example,  upon  how  far  the  South's  com- 
parative freedom  from  French  and  Indian  at- 
tacks rendered  early  urban  development  less 
urgent.  He  can  notice  how  few  great  South- 
ern statesmen  and  generals  were  of  the  urban 
type.  He  can  contrast  Charleston  and  New 
Orleans,  in  their  relations  with  their  outlying 
districts,  as  a  miniature  London  and  a  min- 
iature   Paris,    respectively.      He    can    wonder 


Introduction  xxxvii 

whether  any  subtly  psychological  cause  was  at 
work  to  prevent  the  various  writers  dwelling 
upon  slavery,  duelling  and  other  features  of 
the  past  that  are  not  especially  relished  by  the 
present,  yet  assuredly  had  much  to  do  with 
making  Southern  towns  as  picturesque  and  in- 
teresting as  occasional  travelers  used  to  find 
them  and  as  the  investigator  finds  them  to-day. 
Yet,  if  what  is  omitted  reminds  the  student  of 
the  immense  opportunity  for  original  and  im- 
portant research  that  lies  before  the  rising  gen- 
eration of  Southern  historical  scholars,  neither 
he  nor  the  general  reader  should  forget  the 
gratitude  due  to  the  editor,  the  various  writers 
and  the  publishers  of  this  volume  for  first  o-iv- 
ing  the  public  in  an  attractive  form  adequate 
proof  of  the  interest  and  charm  attaching  to 
the  towns  of  the  mite-bclhun  South.  In  more 
than  one  important  series  of  books  relating  to 
our  national  history  the  South  is  but  scantily 
represented,  but  such  a  reproach  cannot  attach 
to  this  series  of  American  Historic  Towns. 
For  weal  or  woe  the  South  is  now  an  integral 
part  of  the  nation,  and  the  attractive  and  in- 
spiring, no  less  than  the  warning  features  of  its 
history,  should  be  a  portion  of  the  intellectual 
inheritance  of  every  American. 


HISTORIC  TOWNS  OF  THE 
SOUTHERN  STATES 


BALTIMORE 
THE   MONUMENTAL   CITY 

By  ST.  GEORGE  L  SIOUSSAT 

pOR  many  a  year  after  the  weary  passengers 
^  of  the  Ar^  and  the  Doz'e  had  disembarked 
at  St.  Mary's,  there  to  make  the  first  settle- 
ment under  the  proprietary  government  of  the 
Lords  Baltimore,  the  rivers  of  Maryland  ran, 
like  Mr.  George  Alfred  Townsend's  Rappa- 
hannock, 

"All  townless  from  the  mountains  to  the  sea." 

The  Chesapeake  and  its  almost  numberless 
tributaries  made  every  plantation  accessible  to 
shipping,  and  so  precluded  that  concentration 


2  Baltimore 

of  trade  and  population  at  points  of  vantage 
which  is  the  essential  condition  of  municipal 
growth.  As  Charles  Calvert,  third  Baron  Bal- 
timore, wrote,  in  1678: 

"  The  principall  place  or  Towne  is  called  St.  Maryes 
.  .  .  other  places  wee  have  none,  that  are  called  or 
cann  be  called  Townes.  The  people  there  not  affecting 
to  build  nere  each  other  but  soe  as  to  have  their  [houses] 
nere  the  watters  for  conveniencye  of  trade  and  their 
Lands  on  each  side  of  and  behynde  their  houses,  by 
which  it  happens  that  in  most  places  there  are  not  ffifty 
houses  in  the  space  of  thirty  myles.  And  for  this  reason 
it  is  that  they  have  been  hitherto  only  able  to  divide  this 
Provynce  into  Countyes  without  being  able  to  make  any 
subdivision  into  Parishes  or  Precincts  which  is  a  worke 
not  to  be  effected  untill  it  shall  please  God  to  encrease 
the  number  of  the  People  and  soe  to  alter  their  trade  as 
to  make  it  necessary  to  build  more  close  and  to  Lyve  in 
Townes." 

When  Lord  Baltimore  offered  to  the  Lords 
of  Trade  this  explanation  of  the  dearth  of 
municipal  life  in  Maryland,  he  emphasized 
precisely  those  facts  which  have  distinguished 
the  political  development  of  the  South  from 
that  of  the  North,  and  unwittingly  explained 
the  late  appearance  upon  the  map  of  America 
of  the  city  which  now  perpetuates  his  family 
name. 


Baltimore  3 

Boston  had  lived  and  grown  for  nearly  a 
century,  New  Amsterdam  had  been  New  York 
one  half  that  time,  and  a  whole  generation  of 
Philadelphians  had  passed  away  before  the 
future  metropolis  of  the  South  came  into  be- 
ing, A  half-century  passed,  and  the  Revolu- 
tion found  the  town  upon  the  Patapsco  about 
the  size  of  Salem  or  Providence  ;  in  another 
half-century  it  had  become  the  third  city  in 
the  United  States.  The  pre-eminence  which 
Baltimore  thus  attained  was  many  years  ago 
termed  "an  unsolved  problem  in  the  philoso- 
phy of  cities."  Now,  when  one  views  this 
phenomenon  in  a  longer  perspective,  it  is  pos- 
sible, perhaps,  to  discern  more  clearly  some  of 
the  elements  which  combined  to  give  rise  to 
it.  Certainly,  late  years  have  brought  to  light 
much  which  one  is  enabled  to  add  to  the  story 
of  historic  Baltimore  that  the  fathers  have 
handed  down. 

As  Lord  Baltimore's  letter  to  the  Lords  of 
Trade  indicates,  the  economic  disadvantage  of 
the  absence  of  town  life  in  Maryland  was  ap- 
preciated by  the  Government  of  the  Colony  at 
a  very  early  period  in  its  history.  It  was  not 
due  to  the  lack  of  desire  or  of  effort  upon  the 
part  of    the    Proprietaries   that    in    Maryland 


4  Baltimore 

"  towns  there  were  none."  For,  first  by  proc- 
lamations, then  by  Acts  of  Assembly,  towns 
were  "erected"  in  a  great  number  of  places 
situated  upon  the  water  and  selected,  appar- 
ently, with  little  reference  to  any  previous 
exhibition  of  a  tendency  to  municipal  growth, 
and  with  equally  little  reference  to  any  expres- 
sions of  desire  upon  the  part  of  the  inhabitants. 
That  the  success  of  this  policy  was  hardly  pro- 
portionate to  the  efforts  made  in  its  behalf  is 
indicated  by  the  statement  made  at  a  later 
time,  that  "  the  settlers,  and  now  the  Govern- 
ment call  town  any  place  where  as  many 
houses  are  as  are  individuals  required  to  make 
a  riot,  that  is  twenty,  as  fixed  by  the  Riot  Act." 
Indeed,  these  "fiat"  towns  were  in  nearly 
every  case  total  failures.  Harvy-town,  Her- 
rington  and  many  similar  creations  have 
passed  into  oblivion,  and  now  only  serve  as 
institutional  fossils  for  the  political  palaeon- 
tologist. As  Jefferson  said  of  Virginia,  "there 
are  other  places  at  which  the  laws  have  said 
there  shall  be  towns  :  but  nature  has  said  there 
shall  not." 

Among  these  shadow-towns  of  early  Mary- 
land were  some  of  particular  interest  to  the 
history  of    Baltimore.     The   settlement   upon 


Baltimore  5 

the  Patapsco  was  not  the  first  in  Maryland  to 
bear  the  proprietary  name.  The  first  Balti- 
more seems  to  have  been  a  point  of  land  in  St. 
Mary's  County,  spoken  of  only  once  in  the 
early  records,  and  never  again  mentioned.  A 
more  important  predecessor  of  the  Baltimore 


OLD  COURT-HOUSE  (1768)  AND  POWDER   MAGAZINE. 

FROM    AN    OLD    PRINT    IN    THE    POSSESSION    OF    THE    MARYLAND    HISTORICAL   SOCIETY. 


of  to-day  was  Baltimore  upon  the  Bush,  a  small 
river  emptying  into  the  head  of  Chesapeake 
Bay,  not  far  south  of  the  Susquehanna.  "  The 
town-land  on  Bush  River "  is  mentioned  as 
early  as  1669,  and,  some  years  later,  it  was 
made  the  seat  of  the  court  and  court-house 
of    Baltimore    County.      Though    the    court- 


6  Baltimore 

house  was  removed  before  long  to  Joppa, 
upon  the  Gunpowder,  farther  to  the  south, 
many  of  the  eighteenth-century  maps  of  Mary- 
land show  Baltimore  as  still  upon  the  Bush, 
Of  the  history  of  this  early  settlement  no  de- 
tails have  been  preserved  ;  only  lately  has  its 
site  been  determined. 

Meanwhile,  in  the  course  of  this  general 
"towning,"  the  Patapsco  had  not  been 
neglected.  In  the  town  acts  were  included 
provisions  for  towns  upon  Humphreys  Creek, 
and  upon  Whetstone  Point  in  that  river.  Of 
the  actual  existence  of  any  corporate  life  at 
these  points  there  is,  however,  no  record  ;  and 
it  is  probable  that  King  George's  accession 
found  the  Patapsco  watering  the  same  broad 
plantations  as  of  yore.  But  a  new  era  in  the 
town  history  of  Maryland  was  dawning.  Gov- 
ernmental stimulation  was  being  supplanted  by 
private  enterprise.  Certain  progressive  indi- 
viduals conceived  the  idea  of  erecting  a  town 
upon  a  point  of  land  which  runs  out  into  the 
main  stream  of  the  Patapsco  and  to-day  is  in- 
cluded within  the  limits  of  Baltimore  city.  At 
that  time,  this  land  was  the  property  of  a  Mr. 
John  Moale,  and  was  known  as  Moale's  Point ; 
but   if  it   is   Baltimore   now,   Mr.    Moale    was 


Baltimore  7 

resolved  that  it  should  not  be  Baltimore  then, 
and  taking  his  seat  in  the  Assembly,  to  which 
he  was  a  delegate,  he  prevented  the  location  of 
the  town  upon  his  property.  Tradition  has 
censured  this  worthy  for  preferring  the  exca- 
vation of  iron  ore  to  the  development  of  a 
municipality,  but  colonial  experience  in  town 
lots  had  doubtless  been  such  as  to  yield  him 
ample  justification  for  his  determination. 

"The  rejected  of  Mr.  John  Moale  "  was  not, 
however,  to  wander  far,  for  slightly  to  the 
north  lay  property  belonging  to  Charles  and 
Daniel  Carroll,  sons  of  the  former  agent  of 
the  Lord  Proprietary.  Here  the  Patapsco 
formed  a  basin,  a  safe  harbor  for  vessels  of 
light  draft ;  and  near  by  a  stream,  known  to  this 
day  as  Jones's  Falls,  after  the  name  of  an  early 
settler,  running  from  the  hills  near  by,  through 
lowland  and  marsh,  poured  a  muddy  torrent  into 
the  river.  In  1709,  was  passed  an  act  "for 
erecting  a  town  on  the  north  side  of  Patapsco 
in  Baltimore  County  and  for  laying  out  into 
lots  sixty  acres  of  land  in  and  about  the  place 
where  one  John  Fleming  now  lives."  ^ 

•  John  Fleming  was  a  tenant  of  the  Carrolls.  This  homestead 
is  supposed  to  have  been  located  near  the  point  where  now  Lombard 
Street  intersects  the  east  side  of  South  Charles  Street. 


8  Baltimore 

The  owners  of  the  land,  the  Carrolls,  were 
more  complaisant  than  Mr.  John  Moale  :  they 
readily  parted  with  sixty  acres  of  land  at  the 
rate  of  forty  shillings  per  acre,  payable  in 
tobacco  at  one  penny  per  pound.  The  town 
was  then  surveyed  and  laid  out  into  lots,  after 
the  most  approved  "  boomer  "  fashion  of  to-day. 
To  secure  an  estate  in  fee  simple,  "  takers-up  " 
of  lots  were  required  to  erect  thereon,  within 
eighteen  months,  a  building  covering  at  least 
four  hundred  square  feet  :  failure  to  comply 
with  this  condition  laid  the  lots  open  for  other 
takers-up. 

Baltimore's  boom  seems  to  have  started  well, 
for  after  Mr.  Carroll,  as  former  owner,  had 
selected  the  first  lot,  no  less  than  fifteen  other 
persons  invested  the  same  year.  This  success 
was  so  much  appreciated  that  two  years  later 
another  town  was  established,  consisting  of  two 
acres  laid  out  into  twenty  lots,  just  east  of  the 
Falls,  "where  Edward  Fell  keeps  store." 
Communication  between  the  new  town,  known 
as  Jones  or  Jonastown,  and  Baltimore  was 
soon  improved  by  a  bridge  across  the  Falls, 
and  a  few  years  later  the  two  towns  were 
by  Act  of  Assembly  formally  made  into  one. 

A  third  distinct  element  in  the  early  growth 


EDWARD  FELL,   IN   UNIFORM  OF  PROVINCIAL   FORCES. 

FROM    ORIGINAL    PAINTING    m    POSSESSION    OF    WILLIAM    FELL    JOHNSON 


lo  Baltimore 

of  Baltimore  was  a  settlement  somewhat  far- 
ther to  the  east,  known  as  Fell's  Point.  In 
1730,  Mr.  William  Fell,  a  Lancastrian  Quaker, 
purchased  a  tract  of  land  known  as  Copus's 
Harbor  and  erected  thereon  a  mansion.  A 
little  to  the  south,  a  point  jutting  out  into  the 
Patapsco  offered  wharfage  facilities  to  vessels 
of  large  draft  that  were  denied  entrance  to  the 
shallow  basin  of  Baltimore  town.  This  fact 
was  soon  appreciated,  and  at  a  later  time 
Edward  Fell,  who  was  the  son  of  William,  and 
an  officer  in  the  Provincial  army,  laid  out  Fell's 
Point  into  lots,  thereby  reaping  a  fortune 
magnificent  for  those  times. 

Durino-  the  first  half  of  the  eis^hteenth  cen- 
tury  little  of  note  happened  in  Baltimore. 
Within  a  few  years,  however,  some  of  the 
most  important  influences  in  its  later  develop- 
ment began  to  make  themselves  felt.  In 
Northern  Maryland,  particularly  near  the 
Pennsylvania  border,  settlement  was  going  on 
rapidly,  and  denser  settlement  meant  the  ex- 
tension of  commercial  intercourse.  In  1736, 
communication  was  established  between  the 
settlement  on  the  Conewago — Hanover,  in 
Pennsylvania  —  and  the  Patapsco.  Seven 
years  later,  the  people  of    York,   also,  "  have 


Baltimore  1 1 

opened  a  road  to  Patapsco.  Some  trading 
gentlemen  there  are  desirous  of  opening  a 
trade  to  York  and  the  country  adjacent."  "In 
October,  1751,  no  less  than  sixty  waggons 
loaded  with  flaxseed,  came  down  to  Baltimore 
from  the  back  country." 

Baltimore,  though  vigorous  in  action,  was 
as  yet  but  mean  in  appearance.  In  the  rooms 
of  the  Maryland  Historical  Society  hangs  a 
sketch  of  the  town,  drawn  in  1752,  by  John 
Moale,  the  son  of  him  that  would  have  none 
of  towns  or  town-lots.  Rude  in  perspective  as 
this  youthful  efl^ort  is,  it  is  treasured  as  one  of 
the  oldest  and  most  interesting  of  the  city's 
heirlooms.  Twenty-five  houses  —  four  of 
them  built  of  brick  —  and  two  hundred  inhab- 
itants were  then  to  be  found  in  Baltimore. 
Upon  the  hill  we  see  perched  the  first  of  four 
St.  Paul's  churches  successively  erected  upon 
the  same  lot,  though  not  all  upon  the  same  site. 
At  anchor  in  the  harbor  are  the  brig  Philip 
and  Charles  and  the  sloop  The  Baltimore,  The 
merchant  navy  of  Baltimore  was  still  small : 
the  large  vessels  of  foreign  trade  still  waited 
at  Whetstone  Point  to  receive  their  freight, 
transported  in  large  lighters  from  the  planta- 
tion landings  on  both  branches  of  the  river. 


12  Baltimore 

More  flattering  than  this  early  artistic  at- 
tempt is  Governor  Sharpe's  description  of 
Baltimore,    two    years   later,   as   having 

"  the  appearance  of  the  most  increasing  town  in  the 
Province,"  though  "  hardly  as  yet  rivalling  Annapolis  in 
number  of  Buildings  or  inhabitants  :  its  situation  as  to 
Pleasantness,  Air  and  Prospect  is  inferior  to  Annapolis, 
but  if  one  considers  it  with  resi)ect  to  Trade,  the  exten- 
sive country  beyond  it  leaves  us  room  for  comparison  : 
were  a  few  Gentlemen  of  fortune  to  settle  there  and  en- 
courage the  Trade,  it  might  soon  become  a  flourishing 
place,  but  while  few  besides  the  Germans  (who  are  in  gen- 
eral masters  of  small  fortunes)  build  and  inhabit  there,  I 
apprehend  it  Cannot  make  any  considerable  Figure." 

The  requisite  "  gentlemen  of  fortune  "  were 
not  long  lacking.  One  soon  appeared  in  the 
person  of  Dr.  John  Stevenson,  who,  in  1754, 
came  from  Ireland,  accompanied  by  his  brother. 
Dr.  Henry  Stevenson,  a  man  also  noteworthy 
among  the  founders  of  Baltimore.  Dr.  John 
Stevenson  turned  his  attention  to  commerce, 
and  began  the  systematic  development  of  Bal- 
timore's foreign  trade.  He  contracted  for 
large  quantities  of  wheat,  which  he  shipped  to 
Scotland  with  such  profitable  results  that  gen- 
eral attention  was  attracted  to  the  develop- 
ment of  a  more  extended  commerce. 


O   s 

if 
<     ^ 


14  Baltimore 

"  Soon  after,  the  appointment  of  Mr.  Eden  to  the  gov- 
ernment of  Maryland,  Sir  William  Draper  arrived  in  that 
Province  on  a  tour  throughout  the  continent.  He  con- 
templated the  origin  of  Baltimore  and  its  rapid  progress 
with  astonishment,  and  when  introduced  by  the  Governor 
to  the  worthy  founder,  he  elegantly  accosted  him  by  the 
appellation  of  the  American  Romulus." 

These  words  were  written  many  years  later  : 
to  quote  them  here  is  to  take  a  long  glance 
ahead.  When  Dr.  Stevenson  came  to  Balti- 
more, the  clouds  of  war  were  lowering  over 
the  colonies.  Governor  Sharpe  of  Maryland 
exerted  himself  to  the  utmost  to  co-operate 
with  General  Braddock  in  the  conquest  of  the 
Ohio  for  England,  but  fell  out  with  the  Lower 
House  of  the  Provincial  Assembly.  The  war 
was  never  popular  in  Maryland,  although  large 
sums  were  finally  appropriated  for  the  defence 
of  the  Province.  When  the  news  of  Braddock's 
defeat  reached  Baltimore,  the  alarm  was  in- 
tense. Tradition  relates  that  upon  one  occa- 
sion such  terrifying  reports  of  the  proximity  of 
the  Indian  allies  of  France  were  brought  to 
Baltimore  that  the  women  and  children  were 
put  aboard  ships,  while  the  masculine  portion 
of  the  inhabitants  prepared  to  withstand  the 
attack   of  the  savages.      But  the  attack  never 


^      Baltimore  15 

came  ;  instead,  many  settlers  in  Western  Mary- 
land and  Western  Pennsylvania  hurried  back 
to  the  East,  impressed  with  the  necessity  of 
closer  settlement  for  defensive  purposes.  This 
powerful  incentive  to  unity  was  one  that  had 
never  been  felt  by  the  early  colonists  of  Mary- 
land, who,  unlike  their  brethren  in  the  North, 
for  the  most  part  dwelt  in  peace  with  the 
natives. 

During  the  war,  several  companies  of  royal 
troops  were  quartered  in  Baltimore.  Among 
the  officers  in  command.  Captain  Samuel  Gard- 
ner, of  his  Majesty's  Forty-seventh  Regiment, 
was  engaged  in  recruiting  for  his  Majesty's 
service.  His  recruiting  sergeant  displayed 
such  great  zeal  in  the  pursuit  of  his  duty  that 
strenuous  opposition  was  aroused  among  the 
gentry  of  Baltimore,  who  found  their  indentured 
servants  disappearing  one  day,  to  appear  the 
next  in  his  Majesty's  uniform.  Upon  one 
occasion,  Mr.  Charles  Ridgely  and  others 
rescued — or  recaptured — six  recruits,  claiming 
that  they  were  indentured  servants,  which 
proved,  Captain  Gardner  said,  "  not  to  be  the 
truth  as  to  all  of  them:'  The  irate  Captain 
appealed  to  the  civil  authorities,  with  a  long 
story   about    a   conspiracy    of    "  some    of  the 


i6  Baltimore     ' 

better  sort  at  the  Church  in  the  Forest  [St. 
Thomas's] — to  raise  a  body  of  about  two  hun- 
dred men,  and  take  all  my  Recruits  from  me." 
The  plan  of  the  conspirators,  if  such  existed 
never  materialized,  but  Captain  Gardner  re- 
ceived cold  comfort  from  Mr.  Bordley,  the 
Attorney-General.  "He  put  a  case,"  laments 
Captain  Gardner  to  Governor  Sharpe,  "  not 
very  much  to  the  Honour  of  the  Recruiting 
Service — Suppose  a  man  steals  a  horse,  etc.'' 

While  the  French  and  Indian  War  was  in 
progress,  Baltimore  received  a  large  addition 
to  its  population.  When  the  "  French  Neu- 
trals "  were  removed  from  Acadia  by  the  Brit- 
ish Government,  many  came  to  Baltimore,  and 
were  hospitably  quartered  in  the  mansion  of 
Mr.  Edward  Fottrell,  which  stood  upon  the 
square  now  covered  by  the  stately  court-house 
recently  completed.  When  the  Abbe  Robin 
visited  Baltimore  during  the  Revolutionary 
War,  these  unfortunate  people  and  their 
descendants  filled  about  one  quarter  of  the 
town,  a  quarter  mean  and  poor  in  appearance. 
They  still  spoke  their  native  dialect,  and 
treasured  the  altar  vessels  oriven  them,  with 
his  parting  benediction,  by  their  old  cure,  M. 
Le  Clerc,  who  had  been  the  loving  guardian 


BATTLE   MONUMENT. 


17 


i8  Baltimore 

of  their  souls.  Thoucrh  thev  beQfan  in  ereat 
poverty,  this  portion  of  Baltimore's  population 
by  industry  and  thrift  rose  to  a  high  place  in 
the  life  of  the  city.  Many  of  the  seafaring  men 
who  later  played  so  important  a  part  in  the 
commercial  development  of  Baltimore  were 
the  descendants  of  this  sturdy  fisherfolk  of 
Acadia. 

Between  the  French  and  Indian  War  and 
the  Revolution  Baltimore  grew  apace.  Marshes 
were  drained  and  a  market-house  was  erected. 
In  1768,  Baltimore  became  the  county-seat, 
and  a  court-house  was  built  upon  the  site  where 
now  the  Battle  Monument  commemorates  the 
defence  of  the  city  in  1814.  "The  Town" 
and  "  the  Point "  vied  with  each  other,  and 
those  with  an  eye  to  the  future  bought  lots 
in  both  places.  Many  mansions  were  erected, 
among  them  Mount  Clare,  the  residence  of 
Charles  Carroll,  Barrister.  Dr.  Henry  Steven- 
son, brother  of  the  "  Romulus  of  America," 
built  a  house  on  the  York  road  near  the  Falls, 
which  was  called  "  Stevenson's  Folly  "  because 
of  the  contrast  between  its  elegance  and  the 
simplicity  of  the  surrounding  dwellings.  It 
deserved  a  better  name,  for  later  it  was  trans- 
formed into  a  hospital  for  inoculation  against 


Baltimore 


19 


the  smallpox.  Here  the  Rev.  Jonathan  Boucher 
brought  "Jacky"  Custis,  to  be  "given  the 
smallpox,"  and  we  find  recorded  in  Washing- 
ton's correspondence  an  account  of  Dr.  Steven- 
son's charges  of  "  2  pistoles  and  25  s.  for 
board."      At    the    close    of    the    century,    the 


MOUNT  CLARE,   1760,   RESIDENCE  OF  CHARLES  CARROLL,   BARRISTER. 

venerable  doctor  was  one  of  the  founders  of 
the  Medical  and  Chirurgical  Faculty  of  Mary- 
land. When  he  came  to  Baltimore,  the  youth 
of  the  town  already  enjoyed  the  instruction  of 
one  schoolmaster,  and  there  was  demand  for 
another. 

Of  Baltimore  in  thispre-Revolutionary period, 


20  Baltimore 

a  few  odd,  disconnected  facts  have  been  handed 
down.  The  tax  upon  bachelors  —  levied  to 
raise  supplies  for  his  Majesty's  service  —  can- 
not have  been  very  productive,  as  only  thirteen 
"  taxables  "  are  reported.  The  commercial  ac- 
tivity of  the  community  was  stimulated  every 
October  and  May  by  a  fair,  when  residents 
and  visitors  were  free  from  arrest,  except  for 
felony  and  breach  of  the  peace.  Among  other 
police  regulations,  fines  were  laid  upon  those 
whose  chimneys  blazed  out  at  the  top,  or  who 
neglected  to  keep  ladders.  Baltimore  began 
to  look  like  a  busy,  thriving  town,  enjoying 
life  to  the  utmost. 

And  if  our  ancestors  lived  well,  they  endeav- 
ored to  die  well — at  least  with  regard  to  the 
comfort  of  the  guests  at  their  funerals.  One 
bill  for  funeral  expenses,  besides  yards  upon 
yards  of  crape,  tiffany,  broadcloth,  shalloon  and 
linen,  several  pairs  of  black  gloves  and  other 
necessary  attire,  includes  these  items  : 

471^  lbs.  loaf  sugar 
14  doz.  eggs 
10  oz.  nutmegs 
li^.lbs.  allspice 
2o|  gall,  white  wine 
12  bottles  red  wine 
lof  gallons  rum  [!] 


Baltimore  21 

The  first  recognition  of  Baltimore's  exist- 
ence  by  the  Proprietary  appears  to  have  been 
in  connection  with  an  inquiry  as  to  the  pos- 
sibility of  making  the  growth  of  the  town  a 
source  of  additional  income.  Cecilius  Calvert, 
the  secretary  of  Frederick,  the  sixth  Lord  Bal- 
timore, writes  to  Governor  Sharpe  that  in 
Philadelphia  William  Penn  has  reserved  prop- 
erty that  brings  him  "  much  income  now  "  and 
will  produce  to  his  heirs  "  immense  revenue." 
Sharpe  replies  that  Baltimore  town  is  built 
upon  land  patented  to  private  persons,  and 
embraces  the  opportunity  to  moderate  the  ex- 
travagant reports  of  Baltimore's  size  that  had 
reached  the  ears  of  the  Proprietary,  by  adding 
that  it  "  is  almost  as  much  inferiour  to  Philad^ 
as  Dover  is  to  London."  However,  the  twen- 
ty-five houses  and  two  hundred  people  of  1752 
had  become,  in  1764,  two  hundred  families, 
and  the  town  "  is  increasing." 

Such  was  Baltimore  town  when  the  citizens 
met  together  in  town-meeting  to  adopt  a  non- 
importation agreement,  and  to  propose,  upon 
the  last  day  of  May,  1774,  the  assembling  of  a 
general  congress  of  delegates  from  all  the  colo- 
nies. The  sufferinof  of  Boston  under  the  Port 
Bill  awoke  deep  sympathy,  and  in  August  of 


22  Baltimore 

this  year  the  sloop  America  sailed  from  Balti- 
more Harbor  carrying  three  thousand  bushels 
of  corn,  twenty  barrels  of  rye  flour,  two  barrels 
of  pork  and  twenty-one  barrels  of  bread,  "  for 
the  relief  of  our  brethren,  the  distressed  inhab- 
itants of  your  town." 

Though  never  the  scene  of  actual  hostilities, 
Baltimore  lacked  neither  employment  nor  ex- 
citement. Early  in  1776,  a  demonstration  was 
made  against  the  town,  which  had  hitherto 
been  entirely  defenceless,  by  a  British  sloop- 
of-war  and  some  smaller  vessels.  Fortifica- 
tions were  hastily  erected  upon  Whetstone 
Point,  where  Fort  McHenry  later  was  to 
check  the  entrance  of  another  British  fleet ; 
vessels  were  sunk  in  the  channel,  and  the  ship 
Defense  was  hurriedly  fitted  out  and  put  under 
the  command  of  Captain  James  Nicholson. 
The  British  commander  did  not  risk  an  action, 
but  stood  off  down  Chesapeake  Bay,  leaving 
behind  a  valuable  prize  that  he  had  shortly 
before  captured.  "  Such  was  the  ardor  of 
the  militia,"  wrote  Samuel  Purviance,  Secre- 
tary of  the  Committee  of  Safety  of  Baltimore 
town,  "that  not  a  man  w'^  stay  in  Comm" 
room  with  me  but  Mr.  Harrison."  Captain 
Nicholson  was  complimented  as  having  "first 


Baltimore 


23 


had  the  honor  of  displaying  the  Continental 
colors  to  a  British  man-of-war  without  a  return." 


BOOS   HOUSE   NEAR  WHICH   LAFAYETTE'S  TROOPS  ENCAMPED. 


Upon  Baltimore,  formerly  Market,  Street, 
between  Sharp  and  Liberty,  a  tablet  com- 
memorates   the    site    of    "  Congrress    Hall"    a 


24  Baltimore 

"  three  story  and  attic  "  brick  building,  which, 
in  1776,  belonged  to  one  Jacob  Fite,  and  was 
at  that  time  one  of  the  most  imposing  build- 
ings in  the  town.  Hither  the  Congress  of  the 
United  States  adjourned  in  1776, —  when  the 
British  approached  the  Delaware, —  and  re- 
mained several  weeks,  during  which  period 
Washington  was  made  a  virtual  dictator.  A 
few  squares  to  the  east  was  the  Fountain  Inn, 
which  entertained  Washington  and  many  other 
statesmen  and  soldiers  who  came  to  Baltimore, 
or  passed  through  the  town  on  their  way  north 
and  south.  Among  these  visitors  was  the 
Due  de  Lauzun,  whose  legion  lay  encamped 
around  the  knoll  where  later,  in  1806,  was 
commenced  the  erection  of  the  Roman  Catholic 
Cathedral.  Upon  Bond  Street,  Fell's  Point, 
there  was  standing,  not  many  years  ago,  an 
old  farmhouse  belonging  to  a  German  named 
Boos,  near  which  Lafayette's  troops  were  en- 
camped, and  at  which  they  obtained  milk  for 
their  syllabub,  and  other  products  of  the  dairy 
and  the  garden. 

When  Lafayette  passed  through  Baltimore 
£11  route  for  Yorktown,  a  ball  was  given  in  his 
honor ;  his  melancholy  demeanor  upon  this 
joyous  occasion,  explained  by  the  Marquis  as 


Baltimore  25 

due  to  his  concern  at  the  sufferinors  of  his  ill- 
clad  soldiers,  awoke  such  sympathy  that  next 
morning-  "the  ball-room  was  turned  into  a 
clothing  manufactory.  Fathers  and  husbands 
furnished  the  materials ;  daughters  and  wives 
plied  the  needle  at  their  grateful  task."  "  My 
campaign,"  said  the  General  upon  his  return, 
"began  with  a  personal  obligation  to  the  citi- 
zens of  Baltimore,  at  the  end  of  it  I  find  my- 
self bound  to  them  by  a  new  tie  of  everlasting 
gratitude."  When,  forty-three  years  later, 
Baltimore  again  welcomed  Lafayette,  one  of 
the  most  touching  incidents  of  his  visit  was 
his  especial  inquiry  for  Mr.  and  Mrs.  David 
Poe, —  grandparents  of  Edgar  Allan  Poe, — 
the  one  of  whom  had  advanced  Lafayette 
money  from  his  private  funds,  and  the  other 
had  herself  cut  out  five  hundred  garments  for 
his  ragged  troops.  Mrs.  Poe,  with  feeble  body 
but  unclouded  mind,  was  yet  alive  to  welcome 
the  General,  but  her  husband  had  preceded 
his  venerable  friend  to  the  rest  which  comes 
after  toil. 

Another  foreigner  well  known  in  Baltimore 
was  Pulaski,  who  completed  here  the  organiza- 
tion of  the  legfion  in  command  of  which  he  fell 
at  Savannah.      In  the  library  of  the  Maryland 


26  Baltimore 

Historical  Society  hang  the  now  faded  folds  of 

"  The  crimson  banner,  that  with  i)rayer, 
Had  been  consecrated  there, 

by  the  Moravian  nuns  at  Bethlehem,  before 

"  The  warrior  took  that  banner  proud. 
And  it  was  his  martial  cloak  and  shroud." 

Besides  welcoming  those  from  elsewhere, 
Baltimore  gave  to  the  war  the  best  and  brav- 
est of  her  own.  To  aid  Smallwood  and  Wil- 
liams, Baltimore  sent  General  Mordecai  Gist, 
who  as  Major  commanded  the  Maryland  troops 
that  covered  the  American  retreat  at  Long 
Island.  Another  was  John  Eager  Howard, 
who  at  Cowpens  seized  the  critical  moment, 
and  turned  the  fortune  of  the  day.  At  Guil- 
ford and  at  Eutaw  Colonel  Howard  was 
equally  conspicuous,  and  when  peace  came 
Maryland  honored  him  by  thrice  electing  him 
to  the  national  Senate.  "  He  deserves,"  said 
General  Greene,  "a  statue  of  gold,  no  less 
than  Roman  and  Grecian  heroes."  A  third 
was  Captain  Samuel  Smith,  who  held  Fort 
Mifflin,  the  "  Mud  Fort  on  the  Schuylkill,"  for 
seven  weeks,  against  powerful  land  and  sea 
forces  of  the  British,  who  were  seeking  to  open 
the  communication  between  Philadelphia  and 


Baltimore 


27 


the  Atlantic.  It  was  largely  due  to  the  energy 
of  General  Smith  that,  in  the  second  war  with 
Great  Britain,  Baltimore  escaped  the  fate  of 
the  national  Capital.  And  with  these  officers 
went  hundreds 
of  lesser  rank,  to 
join  New  Eng- 
landers  and  fel- 
low-Southerners 
in  the  common 
cause  of  Inde- 
pendence. 

When  the  cry 
**  Cornwallis  i  s 
taken!"  an- 
nounced the 
final  success  of 
Washington  and 
Lafayette,  Bal- 
timore's exul- 
tation  was 
unbounded.  In 
the  evening,  we  are  told,  there  was  a  "  Feau  d' 
Joy":  "the  Town  and  Fell's  Point  were  ele- 
gantly illuminated  ;  what  few  houses  that  were 
not,  had  their  windows  broke."  Upon  the 
Point,    Mr.    Fell,    "  a   gentleman    of    princely 


COL.  JOHN   EAGER  HOWARD. 


FROM    THE    PAINTING    BY    REMBRANDT    PEALE. 


28  Baltimore 

fortune,"  nephew  of  the  first  Edward,  gave 
a  "  genteel  Ball  and  Entertainment,"  where, 
Lieutenant  Reeves  tells  us,  "we  danced  and 
spent  the  night  until  three  o'clock  in  the 
morning  of  the  23rd  as  agreeably  as  one  could 
wish  ;  as  the  ladies  were  very  agreeable  and 
the  whole  company  seemed  to  be  carryed 
away  beyond  themselves  on  this  happy  oc- 
casion." 

Many  years  ago,  one  of  the  most  distin- 
guished of  Baltimore's  sons,  the  Hon.  John  P. 
Kennedy,  himself  a  scholar  and  an  orator  of 
the  old  regime,  gave,  in  an  informal  lecture, 
some  of  his  reminiscences  of  Baltimore  town 
as  it  was  at  the  end  of  the  eiorhteenth  centurv. 
Though  often  quoted,  the  quaint  and  charm- 
ing spirit  of  the  author  makes  his  description 
yet  as  fresh  and  sparkling  as  his  conversation 
ever  used  to  be,  and  it  is  never  too  late  to  give 
in  his  own  words  some  of  his  early  memoirs  of 
Baltimore  town  : 

"  It  was  a  treat  to  see  this  little  Baltimore-town  just  at 
the  termination  of  the  War  of  Independence,  so  con- 
ceited, bustling  and  debonair,  growing  up  like  a  saucy, 
chubby  boy,  with  his  dumpling  cheeks  and  short,  grin- 
ning face,  fat  and  mischievous,  and  bursting  inconti- 
nently out  of  his  clothes  in  spite  of  all  the  allowance  of 
tucks  and  broad  salvages.     Market  Street  had  shot,  like 


Baltimore  29 

a  Nuremberg  Snake  out  of  its  toy  box,  as  far  as  Congress 
Hall,  with  its  line  of  low-browed,  hip-roofed  wooden 
houses,  in  a  disorderly  array,  standing  forward  and  back, 
after  the  manner  of  a  regiment  of  militia,  with  many  an 
interval  between  the  files.  Some  of  these  structures 
were  painted  blue  and  white,  and  some  yellow  ;  and 
here  and  there  sprang  up  a  more  magnificent  mansion 
of  brick,  with  windows  like  a  multiplication  table  and 
great  wastes  of  wall  between  the  stories,  with  occasional 
court-yards  before  them  ;  and  reverential  locust-trees, 
under  whose  shade  bevies  of  truant  schoolboys,  ragged 
little  negroes  and  grotesque  chimney-sweeps  '  skied 
coppers  '  and  disported  themselves  at  marbles. 

"  In  the  days  I  speak  of,  Baltimore  was  fast  emerging 
from  the  village  state  into  a  thriving  commercial  town. 
Lots  were  not  yet  sold  by  the  foot,  —  except  perhaps  in 
the  denser  marts  of  business,  —  rather  by  the  acre.  It 
was  in  the  rus-in-urbe  category.  That  fury  for  levelling 
had  not  yet  possessed  the  souls  of  City  Councils.  We 
had  our  seven  hills  then,  which  have  .been  rounded  off 
since,  and  that  locality  which  is  now  described  as  lying 
between  the  two  parallels  of  North  Charles  Street  and 
Calvert  Street  presented  a  steep  and  barren  hill-side, 
broken  by  rugged  cliffs  and  deep  ravines,  washed  out 
by  the  storms  of  winter  into  chasms  which  were  threaded 
by  paths  of  toilsome  and  difficult  ascent.  On  the  sum- 
mit of  one  of  these  cliffs  stood  the  old  church  of  St. 
Paul's  [the  second],  some  fifty  paces  or  more  to  the 
eastward  of  the  present  church  [the  third],  and  sur- 
rounded by  a  brick  wall  that  bounded  on  the  present 
lines  of  Charles  and  Lexington  Streets.  This  old  build- 
ing, ample  and   stately,    looked    abroad  over    half   the 


30  Baltimore 

town.  It  had  a  belfry  tower,  detached  from  the  main 
structure,  and  keeping  watch  over  a  graveyard  full  of 
tombstones,  remarkable  to  the  observation  of  the  boys 
and  girls,  who  were  drawn  to  it  by  the  irresistible  charm 
of  the  popular  belief  that  it  was  haunted,  and  by  the 
quantity  of  cherubim  that  seemed  to  be  continually  cry- 
ing about  the  death's-head  and  cross-bones  at  the  dole- 
ful and  comical  epitaphs  below  them — images  long  since 
vanished,  without  a  trace  left,  devoured  by  the  voracious 
genius  of  brick  and  mortar. 

"...  I  have  a  long  score  of  jjleasant  recollections 
of  the  friendships,  the  popular  renowns,  the  household 
charms,  the  bonhomie,  the  free  confidences  and  the  per- 
sonal accomplishments  of  the  day.  ...  In  the  train 
of  these  goodly  groups  come  the  gallants  who  upheld  the 
chivalryof  the  age,  cavaliersof  theoldschool,  full  of  starch 
and  powder :  most  of  them  the  iron  gentlemen  of  the  Revo- 
lution, with  leather  faces — old  campaigners,  renowned  for 
long  stories  :  not  long  enough  absent  from  the  camp  to 
lose  their  military  brusquerie  and  dare-devil  swagger  ; 
proper  roystering  blades,  who  had  not  long  ago  got  out 
of  harness  and  begun  to  affect  the  elegancies  of  civil 
life.  Who  but  they  !  jolly  fellows,  fiery  and  loud,  with 
stern  glance  of  the  eye  and  brisk  turn  of  the  head,  and 
swash-buckler  strut  of  defiance,  like  game-cocks,  all  in 
three-cornered  cocked  hats  and  powdered  hair  and  cues, 
and  light-colored  coats  with  narrow  capes  and  marvellous 
long  backs,  with  the  pockets  on  each  hip,  and  small- 
clothes that  hardly  reached  the  knee,  with  striped  stock- 
ings, with  great  buckles  in  their  shoes,  and  their  long 
steel  watch-chains  that  hung  conceitedly  half-way  to  the 
knee,  with  seals  in  the  shape  of  a  sounding-board  to  a 


32  Baltimore 

pulpit  ;  and  they  walked  with  such  a  stir,  striking  their 
canes  so  hard  upon  the  pavement  as  to  make  the  little 
town  ring  again.  I  defy  all  modern  coxcombry  to  produce 
anything  equal  to  it  —  there  was  such  a  relish  of  peace 
about  it,  and  particularly  wlien  one  of  these  weather- 
beaten  gallants  accosted  a  lady  in  the  street  with  a  bow 
that  required  a  whole  side  pavement  to  make  it  in.  with 
the  scrape  of  his  foot,  and  his  cane  thrust  with  a  flourish 
under  his  left  arm  till  it  projected  behind  along  with  his 
cue,  like  the  palisades  of  a  clievaiix-de-frist';  and  nothing 
could  be  more  piquant  than  the  lady  as  she  reciprocated 
the  salutation  with  a  curtsey  that  seemed  to  carry  her 
into  the  earth,  with  her  chin  bridled  to  her  breast,  and 
such  a  volume  of  dignity." 

The  "  rus-In-urbe "  life  of  Baltimore  was 
nearly  ended  ;  with  the  close  of  the  Revolu- 
tionary War  began  a  new  period  in  its  history. 
Soon  streets  were  paved  and  lighted,  better 
bridges  built,  and  a  watch  was  established. 
Commerce  sprang  up  with  renewed  vigor.  The 
tobacco  trade  found  other  markets  than  the 
mother  country  ;  the  West  Indies  bought 
flour,  Spain  and  Portugal,  wheat.  By  1 790, 
Baltimore  skippers  had  rounded  the  Cape  of 
Good  Hope  and  cast  anchor  in  the  harbors 
of  the  Isle  de  France.  The  year  1793  brought 
another  foreign  addition  to  the  already  poly- 
glot population  of  Baltimore.  The  revolution 
in  San  Domineo  drove  fifteen  hundred  of  the 


Baltimore 

inhabitants  to  Maryland,  to  develop  a  o-reat 
trucking  and  garden  trade,  with  Baltimore  as 
Its  centre.  The  Baltimore  clippers,  too,  with 
their  jauntily  raked  masts,  showed  their  heels 
to  the  craft  of  the  rest  of  the  world,  and  the 
reign  of  Baltimore's  merchant  princes  began 

Previous  to  this  time,  all  large  payments  of 
money  were  made  in  bags  of  heavy  coin  :  in 
1790  a  bank  was   organized.     Several  papers 
were  now  published,  and  a  circulating  library 
was  established  by  Mr  Murphy.     A  series  of 
medical   lectures  was   preparing   the   way  for 
the  University  of  Maryland,  and  education  in 
general  was  receiving  more  attention.      Popu- 
lation increased  continually,  and  in    1796    the 
change  from  town  to  full  municipal  life'  was 
made  legal  by  the  incorporation  of  Baltimore 
city. 

_  Now,  also,  began  again  the  improvement  of 
mternal  communication.  For  many  years  the 
white-topped  Conestoga  wagons  had  rumbled 
down  to  Baltimore  from  west  and  north  •  and 
from  time  to  time  efforts  had  been  made  to 
improve  the  main  roads.  In  1805,  the  main 
routes  converging  in  Baltimore  were  turn- 
piked.  Western  Maryland  was  now  becom- 
mg  thickly  settled,  many  thriving  towns  had 


34  Baltimore 

sprung  up,  and  in  a  few  years  the  "  National 
Road"  joined  Cumberland,  on  the  Potomac, 
with  the  Ohio  River.  The  connection  be- 
tween Cumberland  and  Baltimore  was  com- 
pleted by  means  of  a  curious  tax  on  the  banks 
of  Maryland.  Thus  the  line  of  communica- 
tion between  Baltimore  and  Wheeling  was 
continuous,  over  one  of  the  best  roads  in  the 
world.  This  and  six  other  turnpikes  were  as 
seven  great  rivers,  bearing  their  precious 
freight  of  grain,  tobacco,  dairy  products  and 
whiskey  to  Baltimore  for  foreign  shipment ; 
and  in  spite  of  overtrading  and  the  resulting 
period  of  depression,  such  was  Baltimore's 
progress  that  in  1825  Jared  Sparks  could 
say,  "  Among  all  the  cities  of  America,  or  of 
the  Old  World,  in  modern  or  ancient  times, 
there  is  no  record  of  any  one  which  has  sprung 
up  so  quickly  to  so  high  a  degree  of  import- 
ance as  Baltimore."  At  this  time  the  popula- 
tion of  Baltimore  was  five  times  as  great  as  it 
had  been  thirty  years  before,  and  commerce 
had  increased  proportionately.  The  causes 
of  this  remarkable  progress  were  enumerated 
by  Sparks  as  the  advantages  of  Baltimore's 
local  situation,  the  swift  sailing-vessels,  the 
San  Domingan   trade,  the  two   great  staples, 


Baltimore 


35 


tobacco  and  flour,  "  for  which  the  demand  is 
always  sure,  and  the  supply  unfailing,"  and 
lastly,  the  energetic  spirit  of  the  people. 

During  all  this  period  the  city  improved  in 
appearance  as  well  as  in  size.  Especially 
characteristic  of  the  new  Baltimore  was  "  Bel- 


BELVIDERE,   1786,    THE  HOME  OF  COL.  JOHN   E.   HOWARD. 

videre,"  the  residence  of  Colonel  John  Eager 
Howard.  Belvidere  was  completed  in  1794, 
and  only  a  few  years  ago  was  dismantled  by 
the  ruthless  hand  of  the  city  surveyor,  to  make 
way  for  the  progress  of  the  ever-expanding 
city  by  the  extension  of  North  Calvert  Street. 
From  Belvidere,  which  at  the  beginning  of 
the  century  was  a  half-mile  from  Baltimore, 
one  could  look  down,  as  from  some  mediaeval 


36  Baltimore 

castle,  upon  the  bustling  town  below.  In  the 
view  from  Belvidere,  we  are  told, 

"the  town,  —  the  Point,  the  shipping  in  the  Basin  and 
at  Fell's  Point,  the  bay  as  far  as  the  eye  can  reach, 
rising  ground  on  the  right  and  left  of  the  harbor,  —  a 
grove  of  trees  on  the  declivity  on  the  right,  a  stream  of 
water  [Jones's  Falls]  breaking  over  the  rocks  at  the  foot 
of  the  hill  on  the  left,  all  conspire  to  complete  the 
beauty  and  the  grandeur  of  the  prospect." 

Here,  as  at  many  of  the  country-seats  near 
Baltimore,  a  lavish  hospitality  brought  stran- 
gers from  America  and  from  Europe  into 
pleasant  association  with  the  leading  Mary- 
landers  of  the  day.  A  little  to  the  south  of 
Belvidere,  in  what  was  then  the  woodland  of 
"  Howard's  Park,"  there  soon  rose  the  grandly 
simple  column  of  the  Washington  Monument. 
If  Maryland  escaped  actual  invasion  during 
the  Revolutionary  War,  she  bore  the  brunt  of 
the  second  contest  with  England.  After  the 
British  had  sailed  up  the  Patuxent,  laying 
waste  the  manor-houses  and  wide  plantations 
along  its  banks,  after  they  had  burned  the 
national  Capitol  and  routed  a  body  of  Ameri- 
can militia,  they  proceeded  to  attack  Balti- 
more by  land  and  sea.  The  story  is  told  that 
some  faint  hearts  came  forward  with  a  propo- 


Baltimore  37 

sition  to  compound  for  the  safety  of  the  city 
with  a  heavy  ransom,  when  Colonel  Howard 
replied,  "  I  have  as  much  property  at  stake  as 
most  people,  and  I  have  four  sons  in  the  field ; 
but  sooner  would  I  see  my  sons  weltering  in 
their  blood,  and  my  property  reduced  to  ashes, 
than  so  far  disgrace  the  country." 

It  was  such  spirit  as  this  that  checked  the 
land  attack  at  North  Point,  and  that  held  out 
in  Fort  McHenry  during  the  anxious  night  of 
September  12th.  When  day  broke  upon  Fort 
McHenry,  the  flag  was  still  there.  And  in 
the  gray  dawn,  Francis  Scott  Key,  detained 
upon  the  Minden  in  an  effort  to  secure  the 
release  of  a  captive  friend,  wrote  upon  the 
back  of  a  letter  the  thoughts  which  were  pass- 
ing through  his  mind.  Printed  a  little  later, 
and  first  sungf  in  a  restaurant  near  the  Holli- 
day  Street  Theatre,  the  song  of  The  Star 
Spangled  Banner  was  caught  up  in  intense  en- 
thusiasm, till  now,  following  the  flag  it  cele- 
brates, it  is  sung  in  every  portion  of  the  globe.  / 

No  less  important  witl\  respect  to  the  final 
outcome  of  the  war  than  the  repulse  of  the 
British  at  North  Point  and  at  Fort  McHenry, 
was  the  offensive  warfare  carried  on  by  the 
privateers  of   Baltimore, — the  clippers  turned 


38  Baltimore 

fighters.  The  log-books  of  these  illusive  craft 
make  interesting  reading.  *'  Chased  by  a  frig- 
ate :  outsailed  her,"  is  the  entry  that  seems  to 
occur  most  frequently,  and  thrilling  accounts 
of  hairbreadth  escapes  are  numerous.  The 
English  Channel  was  a  favorite  hunting- 
ground  of  the  privateers,  and  many  a  British 
vessel  was  taken  or  burnt  outside  of  and  in 
view  of  her  own  port.  The  amount  of  property 
taken  or  destroyed  in  this  way  was  enormous, 
and  the  moral  effect  of  American  success  ex- 
ceeded the  material. 

With  the  return  of  peace,  overtrading  led  to 
a  commercial  crisis.  In  18 18,  the  Baltimore 
branch  of  the  Bank  of  the  United  States  be- 
came insolvent,  and  the  darkest  period  in  the 
history  of  the  city  ensued.  But  in  less  than 
ten  years  the  shock  had  been  so  far  forgotten 
that  Baltimore  was  again  seeking  to  develop 
commercial  connection  with  the  West.  "  The 
enterprising  citizens  of  Baltimore,"  we  are  told, 
"  perceiving  that  in  consequence  of  steam  nav- 
igation on  the  western  waters,  and  the  exer- 
tions of  other  States  they  were  losing  the 
trade  of  the  West,  began  seriously  to  consider 
of  some  mode  of  recovering  it."  The  means 
adopted  were  twofold  :    the   Chesapeake  and 


Baltimore  39 

Ohio  Canal,  and  the  Baltimore  and  Ohio  Rail- 
road. The  amount  of  money  which  Maryland 
and,  relatively  to  a  greater  extent,  Baltimore 
invested  in  these  schemes  has  perhaps  been 
more  than  subsequent  events  have  justified  ; 
but  the  effect  of  the  idea  of  internal  improve- 
ment cannot  be  overestimated. 

That  the  troublous  times  of  the  war  between 
the  States  should  bear  upon  Baltimore  with 
especial  afifliction  was  but  the  natural  result 
of  her  geographical  situation.  In  the  more 
southerly  cities,  popular  sentiment  was  usually 
nearly  unanimous  ;  in  Baltimore,  the  combina- 
tion in  municipal  life  of  the  foreign  with  the 
native  Southern  element  involved  the  existence 
of  two  ideas,  two  ways  of  looking  at  things. 
When,  therefore,  the  great  question  had  to  be 
decided,  the  citizens  of  Baltimore,  ever  char- 
acterized by  an  excessive  political  activity,  im- 
mediately divided  into  two  camps,  in  which 
were  often  ranged  in  deadly  opposition  those 
who  before  had  been  bound  by  common  ties  of 
Church,  of  State  and  of  kindred  ;  while  be- 
neath and  between  the  better  elements  of  both 
parties,  the  turbulent  mob,  well  schooled  in 
political  lawlessness,  eagerly  embraced  every 
opportunity  for  riot  and  disorder. 


40  Baltimore 

The  most  serious  cause  of  difference  was  not 
the  question  of  slavery,  for  Baltimore  was,  it 
has  been  said,  "  the  paradise  of  the  free  colored 
population."  In  1789,  Samuel  Chase,  Luther 
Martin,  Dr.  George  Buchanan,  and  in  fact 
most  of  the  leading  men  of  that  day,  formed 
one  of  the  earliest  of  American  abolition  soci- 
eties ;  and  to  the  same  cause,  in  later  times, 
Charles  Carroll  of  Carrollton  lent  his  influence 
and  William  Pinkney  his  eloquence. 

The  most  powerful  stimulus  to  secession 
lay  in  the  policy  of  Lincoln's  administration. 
While  the  attack  upon  the  Sixth  Massachu- 
setts was  the  work  of  the  mob,  the  passage 
through  Maryland  of  the  Northern  troops 
made  sympathy  with  the  South  temporarily 
predominant.  The  excitement  subsided  ;  the 
city,  like  the  State,  was  held  for  the  Union,  but 
the  military  policy  of  the  national  Govern- 
ment inaugurated  a  period  of  bitter  oppression 
to  those  whose  hearts  were  across  the  Potomac. 
Newspapers  were  suppressed,  all  exhibitions 
of  sympathy  with  the  Southern  cause  were 
rudely  brought  to  an  end,  and  the  personal  lib- 
erty of  the  individual  was  destroyed  by  the 
suspension  of  the  habeas  corpus — a  suspension 
which  henceforth  estranged  the  executive  and 


Baltimore  41 

the  judicial  heads  of  the  nation.  Yet  in  spite  of 
this  military  policy,  or,  more  properly,  because 
of  it,  the  Union  sentiment  increased,  and  in 
1864,  in  the  city  where  four  years  before  each 
of  his  three  opponents  had  been  nominated 
for  the  Presidency,  the  Union-Republican  con- 
vention chose  as  its  candidate  for  a  second 
term  the  President,  Abraham  Lincoln. 

With  the  development  of  the  policy  of  in- 
ternal improvement  began  the  modern  city. 
In  spite  of  financial  crises,  periods  of  bitter 
political  disturbance  and  the  shock  of  the  Civil 
War,  the  expansion  begun  by  the  uniting  of 
Baltimore  town  first  with  Jonas  town  and  then 
with  Fell's  Point,  has  been  continued  over  the 
neighboring  hillsides  to  the  north,  east,  and 
west,  until  the  hamlet  of  two  hundred  inhabit- 
ants has  now  become  the  city  of  more  than 
half  a  million  souls.  With  this  numerical 
increase  has  come  a  proportionate  commercial 
development ;  the  advantageous  situation  of 
"  the  northernmost  southern  and  the  western- 
most eastern  city  "  is  as  potent  a  factor  in  its 
life  to-day  as  it  was  of  old.  In  the  higher 
things,  also,  that  enrich  the  life  of  a  great  city, 
progress    has    been    no    less    constant.       The 


42  Baltimore 

schoolmaster,  to  whom,  in  1752,  "encourage- 
ment "  was  offered  by  advertisement  in  the 
Maryland  Gazette,  has  been  succeeded  by  a 
thorough  system  of  public  education,  while  the 
ideas  that  found  expression  in  the  "  Steven- 
son's Folly,"  and  the  "  Murphy's  Circulating 
Library  "  of  a  century  ago,  have  subsequently 
inspired  the  foundations  of  McDonogh,  Shep- 
ard,  Watson,  White,  Wilson,  Peabody,  Hop- 
kins and  Pratt. 

Of  all  the  institutions,  charitable  or  educa- 
tional, with  which  Baltimore  has  been  blessed, 
none  have  brought  her  more  honor  than  the 
Johns  Hopkins  University  and  the  Johns 
Hopkins  Hospital.  Founded  upon  the  be- 
quest of  one  of  Maryland's  sons,  who  had 
amassed  his  great  wealth  in  the  city  he  loved 
so  well,  the  University  was  fortunate  in  the 
selection  as  its  President  of  Daniel  C.  Oilman, 
a  man  with  extraordinary  genius  for  educational 
organization.  Fortunate,  also,  was  the  bring- 
ing together,  at  the  start,  of  a  faculty  of  eminent 
specialists :  the  first  were  Oildersleeve,  Syl- 
vester, Remsen,  Rowland,  Martin  and  Morris. 
These  men,  and  their  successors,  have  fostered 
a  spirit  of  intellectual  advance  which  has  made 
the  importance  of  the   University  in  the  edu- 


Baltimore 


43 


cational  history  of  this  country  assume  a  pro- 
portion simply  incalculable. 

Across  the  city,  upon  a  site  open  and  com- 
manding, stands    the   Hospital,  with   its  ever- 


BUST  OF  JOHNS   HOPKINS. 

FROM    THE    ORIGINAL    IN    JOHNS    HOPKINS    HOSPITAL. 

growing  Medical  School,  and  its  Training 
School  for  Nurses.  Equally  successful  in  its 
first  choice  of  leaders,  and  in  the  character  of 
those  who  follow  them,  the  Hospital  has  been 
far  more  fortunate  than  the  University  in  the 
financial  stability  of  its  endowment. 


44  Baltimore- 

Between  the  two,  and  lying  almost  at  the 
base  of  the  Washington  Monument,  is  the 
Peabody  Institute,  with  its  magnificent  library. 
Farther  downtown  is  that  of  the  Maryland 
Historical  Society,  and  these,  with  the  Con- 
gressional Library  in  Washington,  only  forty 
miles  away,  afford  every  advantage  for  study 
and  research  ;  while  the  more  popular  demands 
of  Baltimore's  readers  are  met  by  the  great 
Free  Circulating  Library  endowed  by  the  late 
Enoch  Pratt. 

In  the  solution  of  the  problems  that  arise 
from  the  organization  of  modern  society  Balti- 
more has  done  pioneer  work.  It  was  a  Balti- 
more lawyer,  Hon.  John  V.  L.  McMahon,  who 
drew  up  for  the  Baltimore  and  Ohio  Railroad 
the  charter  which  "formed  a  model  for  the 
organization  of  all  future  railroad  corporations." 
It  was  in  Baltimore  that  a  municipality  first 
"  secured  a  valuable  revenue  from  street  railway 
corporations,  and  applied  it  to  the  purposes 
of  public  parks." 

The  ploughman  and  the  fisherman  that,  upon 
the  Great  Seal  of  Maryland,  support  the  shield 
of  the  Lords  Proprietary  may  be  considered 
as  typical  of  the  influences  which  have  com- 
bined   to  further  the   growth  of    the    city    of 


Baltimore 


45 


Baltimore  ;  while  to  the  happy  result  that  has 
crowned  their  joint  endeavors  may  be  applied 
the  words  of  the  motto  that  surrounds  the 
whole  : 

"  SCVTO  BON^   VOLVNTATIS  TV^  CORONASTI  NOS." 


ANNAPOLIS 

"YE  ANCIENT  CITY" 

By  SARA  ANDREW  SHAFER 

NEITHER  of  the  North  nor  of  the  South, 
of  the  Old  nor  of  the  New,  the  fair  State 
of  Maryland  possesses  a  thousand  charms  that 
are  all  her  own,  as  she  clasps  the  blue,  river- 
fringed  Chesapeake  to  her  breast,  and  stretches 
out  her  lovely  leagues  of  hill  and  vale,  of  field 
and  forest  and  rocky  glen,  from  where  the  sun 
rises  out  of  the  ocean  beyond  her  "  East'n  Sho 
to  where  he  sets  behind  the  mountain  ramparts 
of  her  western  frontier.  And  of  Maryland 
surely  the  heart  lies  in  the  quaint  old  city  on 
the  Severn,  where  the  days  are  longer,  the 
nights  stiller,  the  sunshine  more  full  of  peace, 
and  the  moonlight  more  fraught  with  mystery 
than  any  place  else  in  the  World.  To  saunter 
through  the  streets  of  "  Y^  Ancient  City  "  of  An- 
napolis is  to  take  a  University  Extension  course 

47 


48 


Annapolis 


in  American  history  ;  to  gaze  upon  her  old 
houses  is  to  behold  the  finest  type  of  colonial 
architecture  ;  while  to  read  her  annals  is  to  be 
fired  with  the  truest  patriotism  and  to  mingle 
in  the  best  society  of  the  picturesque  days  of 
long  ago. 

From  our  New  World  point  of  view,  An- 
napolis is  very  old,  dating  back  to  1608,  when 
Captain  John  Smith,  exploring  the  Chesa- 
peake Bay,  sailed  up  the  Severn  in  search  of 
favorable  sites  for  settlements.  She  is  for- 
tunate in  the  fig- 
ures that  stand  on 
her  threshold,  for 
next  after  the  gal- 
lant Captain  come 
the  noble  Calverts 
— George,  Cecilius, 
Leonard,  than 
whom  were  never 
lordlier  men.  To 
Cecilius,  pledges 
made  to  his  father 
GEORGE  CALVERT,  FIRST  LORD  BALTIMORE.  Were   redeemed 

REPRODUCED  FROM   AN  OLD   PRINT.  whpn  if!         T(S'*'> 

Charles  I.  made  him  vast  grrants  of  lands  be- 
yond  the  Atlantic,  in  return  for  which  all  that 


Annapolis 


49 


was  asked  was  allegiance  to  the  English  Crown  ; 
one  fifth  of  all  gold  and  silver  to  be  discovered 
in   the    new  do- 
main, and  an  an- 
nual offering,  to 
be    made    at 
Windsor   Castle 
on  Easter  Tues- 
day,   of  two  In- 
dian   arrow- 
heads.     The 
charter  thus 
given    was    the 
freest    ever    be- 
stowed upon  any 
colony,   and    in 
return  Lord  Bal- 
timore   named 
his   new   posses- 
sions   in    honor   of    Queen    Henrietta    Maria, 
whose  bigotry  and  arrogance  had  so  much  to 
do  with  the  loss  of  her  husband's  crown  and 
life,  and  which  —  so  strange  are  the  relations 
of  cause  and  effect  —  formed  one  of  the  broad 
foundation  stones  on  which  the  modern  super- 
structure of  civil  and  religious  freedom  rests. 
On  November  30,  1633,  two  little  ships,  the 


CECILIUS  CALVERT,  SECOND  LORD  BALTI- 
MORE. 

REPRODUCED  FROM  AN  OLD  PRINT. 


50  Annapolis 

Ark  and  the  Dove,  set  sail  from  Cowes,  under 
command  of  Leonard  Calvert,  brother  of  the 
Lord  Proprietary,  and  having  on  board  a 
goodly  company  of  gentlemen  —  adventurers. 
It  was  but  the  common  sight  of  the  putting 
out  to  sea  of  two  insicrnificant  boats  to  those 
who  watched  them  from  the  shore  that  au- 
tumn day  ;  but  it  stands  out  as  marking  a  great 
era  in  the  history  of  human  progress.  The 
pious  and  catholic  Cecilius  Calvert,  carrying 
out  the  designs  of  his  great  father,  had  de- 
creed that  all  men  living  under  his  protection 
should  be  free  to  serve  God  according  to  the 
dictates  of  their  own  consciences, — a  decree 
so  far  in  advance  of  their  times  as  to  place  the 
names  of  the  Calverts  forever  in  the  foremost 
rank  of  the  world's  greatest  and  wisest  men. 

After  many  adventures,  on  the  25th  of  March, 
the  Feast  of  the  Annunciation,  the  colonists 
landed.  A  precious  early  chronicle  tells  us 
that 

"  Heere  we  went  to  a  place  where  a  large  tree  was  made 
into  a  Crosse,  and  taking  it  upon  our  shoulders,  wee  car- 
ried it  to  the  place  appointed  for  it.  The  gouvernour 
and  Commissioners  putting  their  hands  first  vpon  it,  and 
then  the  rest  of  the  chiefest  aduenturers.  At  the  place 
prepared  wee  all  kneeled  downe  and  said  certain  Prayers, 


Annapolis  51 

taking  possession  of  the  Countrey  for  our  Savior,  and 
for  our  Soueraigne  Lord  the  King  of  England." 

The  early  relations  between  the  new  comers 
and  the  aborigrines  seem  to  have  been  of  the 
most  friendly  character,  and  the  Relation  of 
the  Success f  2il  Begin7iing  of  the  Lord  Baltimore  s 
Pla?itation  in  Maryland,  from  which  we  have 
just  quoted,  is  full  of  the  praises  of  the  climate, 
the  soil,  the  flora  and  fauna,  and  the  general 
ofoodliness  of  the  land.  An  Eden  it  must  have 
been  in  its  primeval  loveliness  ! 

As  ever  in  Eden,  there  were  serpents.  The 
world  was  not  yet  worthy  of  the  lofty  ideas  of 
the  founder  of  the  Terra  Marice.  The  first 
Provincial  Assembly,  which  met  in  1637-38, 
had  many  grave  questions  to  discuss,  and  these 
grew  only  graver  as  the  political  situation  in 
England  became  more  complicated — the  power 
of  the  King  waning  while  that  of  the  Puritans 
waxed. 

In  1642,  the  Churchmen  in  Virginia  passed  a 
Conventicle  Act,  which  bore  so  heavily  upon 
the  non-conforming  Puritans  that,  in  1648, 
Governor  Stone  sent  an  invitation  to  the  per- 
secuted men  to  come  and  enjoy  the  liberties 
which,  in  the  next  year,  were  to  go  upon  our 
Statute  Books,  and  to  be  their  glory  forever, 


52  Annapolis 

as  the  Toleration  Act.  In  1649,  therefore^ 
ten  families  crossed  the  Potomac,  and  on  Sev- 
ern-side built  a  few  huts,  to  which  they  gave 
the  name  of  Providence. 

Affairs  were  moving  rapidly.  The  King 
had  laid  down  his  life.  It  was  declared  treason 
to  own  allegiance  to  his  exiled  son.  The  shoe 
was  now  decidedly  on  the  Puritan  foot,  and 
without  loss  of  time  they  proceeded  to  re-read 
the  Act  of  Toleration,  and  to  make  out  a  case 
for  everybody  but  Church  of  England  men 
and  Romanists,  who  were  now  proscribed. 
This  act  of  bigotry  and  ingratitude  makes  the 
darkest  spot  on  the  escutcheon  of  the  Palat- 
inate, nor  is  there  much  that  is  pleasant  to 
read  in  the  jealousies,  bickerings  and  aggres- 
sions of  the  next  few  years.  A  county  was 
formed  in  1650,  and  named  in  honor  of  the 
gentle  Anne  Arundel,  wife  of  Lord  Baltimore. 
A  treaty  of  peace  between  the  white  men  and 
the  red  was  signed  in  1652,  and  the  name  of 
the  village  was  changed  to  "  The  Town  at 
Proctors."  These  thino-s  are  about  all  we  need 
to  know  until,  the  Revolution  of  1688  having 
been  accomplished,  Maryland  became  a  royal 
province,  and  the  first  royal  governor.  Sir 
Lionel  Copley,  came  over.      In  1694  the  seat 


Annapolis  53 

of  government  was  removed  from  the  original 
seat,  St.  Mary's,  to  the  place  which,  after  bear- 
ing three  or  four  names,  finally  settled  upon 
that  of  Annapolis,  a  mongrel  title,  assumed  in 
honor  of  the  then  heiress  to  the  Crown. 

There  is  but  one  rational  way  of  beginning 
a  sketch  of  the  old  town,  and  that  is  to  look 
first,  as  did  the  wise-hearted  early  Annapoli- 
tans,  at  the  Church,  the  State  House,  and  the 
School,  and  to  picture  them  as  they  stand  on 
smooth  green  lawns,  high  on  the  little  penin- 
sula, almost  encircled  by  the  silver  marriage- 
ring  of  the  Severn  and  its  estuaries. 

The  Church  (for  although  the  praise  of 
God  arises  from  many  altars,  the  interest  nat- 
urally centres  in  the  eldest  born)  is  a  long,  low 
structure,  giving  an  odd  impression  of  some 
seaworthy  craft  cast  adrift  upon  the  green  tide- 
less  sea  of  its  spacious  Circle.  It  was  named, 
we  fancy,  for  various  Annes  :  the  mother  of 
the  Virgin,  the  Lady  Anne  Arundel,  and  the 
Queen-to-be.  St.  Anne's  it  has  ever  been, 
bearing  the  name  through  three  baptisms  of 
fire,  in  one  of  which,  it  is  said,  the  bell.  Queen 
Anne's  own  gift,  rung  its  own  knell  in  a  most 
weird  and  pathetic  manner.  Once  upon  a 
time  its  yard  was  the  village  burying-ground, 


54  Annapolis 

but  its  early  tenants  have  all  been  disturbed 
in  their  rest,  and  only  one  or  two  box-tombs 
remain,  on  which  the  sparrows,  which  have 
built  themselves  nests  in  the  ivy  on  the  walls, 
hop  and  chirp  contentedly.  The  only  relic 
still  possessed  by  St.  Anne's  is  the  Communion 
Plate,  which  bears  the  arms  of  William  III. 
and  the  date,  1695.  It,  too,  was  a  gift  from 
that  "great  Anne  whom  three  realms  obeyed," 
who  seems  to  have  had  a  special  fondness  for 
sending  like  mementoes  to  the  infant  colonies. 
The  first  clergyman,  Dr.  Bray,  sent  out  to 
care  for  the  souls  of  the  Annapolitans,  re- 
ceived ten  thousand  pounds  of  tobacco  as  his 
stipend  —  this,  of  course,  after  the  Church  of 
England  was  made  the  Established  Church. 
Seats  were  reserved  in  the  sacred  edifice  for 
the  Governor  and  members  of  the  legislative 
bodies  ;  and  in  addition  their  attendance  was 
made  compulsory.  The  first  missionary  meet- 
ing of  which  we  hear  in  America  was  held  in 
St.  Anne's,  when  a  pious  annual  five -and - 
twenty  pounds  was  voted  to  be  applied  to  the 
conversion,  not  of  the  heathen  Susquehan- 
noghs,  as  one  might  have  expected,  but  of  the 
Quakers  of  Pennsylvania  ! 

Not  far  from  the  Church  stands  the  first  free 


ST.  JOHN'S  COLLEGE  AND  THE  TREATY  TREE. 


55 


56  Annapolis 

school  on  the  continent,  once  King  William's 
School,  and  under  the  direction  of  the  Arch- 
bishop of  Canterbury,  but,  for  many  a  long  and 
useful  year,  St.  John's  College.  Its  principal 
building,  McDowell  Hall,  was  built  in  1744, 
for  a  royal  governor,  and  is  flanked  by  digni- 
fied houses  standing  well  back  upon  the  green 
campus,  a  picture  of  ivy-clad  repose  that  is 
very  pleasing.  A  part  of  a  gift  of  books  sent 
by  the  good  King  William  is  still  cherished  in 
the  library,  and  on  the  roll  of  students  are 
many  of  the  brightest  names  the  State  can 
boast.  On  the  campus  stands  a  very  old  tulip- 
tree.  Tradition  says  that  under  its  shadow 
the  treaty  with  the  Susquehannoghs  was  signed 
in  1652,  and  it  is  certain  that  it  must  have 
been  of  great  age  even  then.  A  fire  burned  away 
part  of  its  trunk  years  ago,  but  the  hole  was 
boarded  up,  a  friendly  ivy  has  done  its  best  to 
hide  the  scars,  and  the  brave  old  tree  yields  its 
toll  of  blossoms  to  each  passing  June,  and  bids 
fair  to  do  so  when  the  grandsons  of  the  young- 
est lad  now  playing  beneath  its  branches  shall 
come  to  visit  this  lost  monarch  of  a  vanished 
forest.  Here  were  pitched  the  tents  of  the 
French  troops  which  came  to  aid  us  in  our 
hour   of    peril,    and    here    were   camps    again 


58  Annapolis 


during  our  second  struggle  with  England,  and 
during  the  Civil  War.  Nor  did  all  leave  when 
the  order  to  strike  tents  came. 

"  Under  the  sun  and  the  dew, 
Waiting  the  Judgment  Day," 

the  tenants  of  some  low  grassy  mounds  here 
sleep  in  nameless  peace. 

If  Annapolis  is  the  heart  of  Maryland — its 
cor  cordiwn  lies  in  the  State  House  standing  in 
the  great  green  circle  which  overlooks  the  city, 
the  river  and  the  bay.  Like  the  Church,  it  is 
now  wearing  its  third  outward  and  visible  form, 
fire  having  destroyed  the  two  earlier  structures. 
The  corner-stone  of  the  present  edifice  was  laid 
in  1772,  and  it  was  designed  in  the  best  spirit 
of  the  style  we  call  colonial.  Ample  spaces 
of  English  patterned  brick  divide  its  rather 
small  windows,  a  simple  pillared  portico  guards 
its  doorway,  and  it  is  covered  by  a  curious  but 
very  agreeable  dome.  Under  its  roof  the  vari- 
ous executive,  legal  and  legislative  branches 
of  the  State  government  find  lodging.  Its  ro- 
tunda is  decorated  with  the  most  elaborate 
stucco  work,  and  throughout  the  old  pile  are 
many,  many  memorials  of  days  gone  by  :  none 


Annapolis  59 

of  them  more  interesting  than  the  Great  Seal, 
brought  over  by  Governor  Stone  in  1648,  and 
which  is,  substantially,  the  coat-of-arms  of  the 
Calverts.  From  the  dome  and  the  portico  fine 
views  can  be  obtained.  There  is  a  dignity  and 
consequence  about  the  building  which  not  even 
the  noisiest  session  of  the  Legislature  can 
wholly  dissipate  ;  in  a  word,  the  old  State 
House  is  the  pride  and  glory  of  the  common- 
wealth. 

We  have  not  even  touched  upon  the  gallant 
part  played  by  the  citizens  of  the  town  and  the 
colony  in  the  Revolution  ;  but  at  last  the  war 
was  over,  Washington  had  bidden  adieu  to 
his  troops  in  New  York,  and  had  come  hither 
to  lay  In  the  hands  of  the  Congress  of  the 
States,  in  session  in  the  chamber  in  which  the 
Treaty  of  Peace  was  to  be  signed  a  year  later, 
his  commission  as  Commander-in-chief  of  the 
armies.  That  he  had  been  nominated  to  that 
high  office  by  a  Marylander,  Thomas  Johnson, 
who  had,  in  1777,  become  the  first  Governor 
of  the  State,  added  not  a  little  to  the  interest 
of  a  scene  described  by  every  pen  that  writes 
of  the  times.  The  simplicity,  manliness,  pathos 
and  true  dignity  of  the  event  have  never  been 
better   portrayed    than    in   the    vast    painting 


6o 


Annapolis 


which  adorns  the  historic  room.  Portraits  of  our 
four  signers,  Paca,  Stone,  Chase,  and  Carroll 
of  Carrollton,  are  also  seen   here,  as  well   as 

those  of  other 
men  who  fought 
with  pen  or 
sword  to  make 
us  free. 

An  odd  little 
building,  with 
flagged  floors, 
huge  bolts,  and 
most  ponderous 
keys,  still  stands 
on  the  Circle, 
and  serves  as  our 
Treasury.  It 
was  once  the 
home  of  the 
House  of  Burgesses,  and  is  perhaps  the  only 
buildinof  left  to  us  from  the  seventeenth  cen- 
tury.  And  there  are  statues  here  of  Chief 
Justice  Taney,  and  of  Baron  DeKalb,  who  fell 
at  the  head  of  his  Marylanders  in  the  battle  of 
Camden  ;  but,  more  distinctly  than  these,  we 
see  the  figures  of  Washington  and  Lafayette 
and  all  that  goodly  fellowship,  and  it  is  they 


CHAFiLES  CARROLL  OF  CARRO'-LTONI. 

1737-1832. 


Annapolis 


6i 


who  will  walk  the   State   House  green  when 
the  bronzes  are  dust. 

Wandering  through  the  leafy  streets,  with 
ever  a  glimpse  of  bright  water,  or  a  white  sail 
shining  between  the  trees,  one  notes  the  Old 
World  flavor  of  their  names ;  Cornhill,  Han- 
over, Prince  George  (of  Denmark),  King 
George   (the  First),   Duke  of    Gloucester — in 


THE  OLD  HOUSE  OF  BURGESSES,  NOW  USED  AS  THE  STATE  TREASURY. 

honor,  this,  of  the  pathetic  little  royal  child 
whose  early  death  broke  the  heart  of  William 
of  Orange,  and  left  Queen  Anne  a  childless 
woman.  And  the  houses  that  border  the 
streets,  sometimes  set  close  to  the  pavement, 
sometimes  half  hidden  by  trees,  are  worthy  of 
them,  and  of  the  air  of  unspeakable  content- 
ment and  aloofness  from  the  cares  of  this  world 


62 


Annapolis 


which  is  characteristic  of  the  place.  Here  is 
one  built  by  the  Proprietary  Governor,  Ogle, 
spacious  and  elegant,  in  whose  garden  are  yet 
some  bits  of  the  box-bordering  of  a  forgotten 
labyrinth,  and  here  is  one  whose  carved  door- 
way arrests  every  eye.     The   Paca  homestead 


THE   BRICE   HOUSE. 


has  wings  that  are  little  houses  of  themselves, 
joined  to  the  house  proper  by  long,  low  corri- 
dors ;  and  opposite  to  it,  in  the  delightful  little 
Iglehart  house,  there  is  a  panelled  room  where 
ghosts  might  walk.  The  facade  of  the  Brice 
mansion,  built  of  English  brick,  as  is  many 
another  in   the  town,  with  long  corridors  and 


Annapolis  63 

transverse  wings,  is  said  to  be  two  hundred 
feet  long ;  while  within,  the  drawing-room  situ- 
ated in  the  old  fashion  at  the  back  of  the 
house  that  it  might  overlook  the  garden,  is 
yet  the  delight  and  despair  of  architects,  so 
noble  are  its  proportions,  and  so  fine  the  carved 
work  of  its  cornice  and  chimney-piece.  The 
fame  of  the  latter  is,  indeed,  international.  On 
the  State  House  Circle  the  Randall  or  Bordley 
house,  built  in  1 740,  stands  in  a  proud  seclu- 
sion of  magnolias  and  ivy-hung  trees,  and  be- 
hind a  tiny  paddock  where  a  pretty  Jersey  cow 
sometimes  grazes.  Not  far  away  the  Lloyd 
or  Chase  house  lifts  its  walls  in  a  haughty  con- 
sciousness of  being  the  finest  specimen  of  its 
class  in  America.  It  not  only  boasts  of  ma- 
hogany doors  with  wrought-silver  latches, 
carved  shutters  and  cornices,  noble  drawing- 
rooms  and  chambers,  a  vast  hall  with  a  curious, 
double-flight  of  stairs,  but  has  also  a  carved 
breakfast-room  which  is  ideal. 

On  Hanover  Street  is  the  stone  mansion  of 
Anthony  Stewart,  the  merchant  whose  brig, 
the  Peggy  Stewart,  came  into  harbor  one  Octo- 
ber day  in  1764,  laden  with  the  repudiated 
tea.  So  incensed  were  the  stout-hearted  An- 
napolitans    that,    to    escape     their    ire,    poor 


64 


Annapolis 


Anthony,  with  his  own  hands,  set  fire  to  the 
ill-starred  brig,  his  wife,  the  Peggy  for  whom 
the  boat  was  named,  watching  from  her  cham- 
ber window  the  sacrificial  flames  mounting 
from  the  water's   G<}gG.      We   keep  a    Peggy 


■-"•■^"22v^53!9P;5i^irr 


THE  PEQQY  STEWART  HOUSE. 


Stewart  Day,  now,  in  Maryland,  and  some  of 
us  like  to  remember  that  Peggy,  too,  was  once 
the  mistress  of  a  breakfast-room  which  was 
ideal. 

At  the  foot  of  Duke-of-Gloucester  Street,  in 
1 760,  John  Ridout  built  for  himself  and  his  chil- 


THE  BURNING  OF  THE   PEGGY  STEWART. 

FROM  THE  PAINTJNG  BY  FRANK  B.    MAYER. 


65 


■66  Annapolis 

dren  three  houses  that  are  Hke  a  castle  ;  and 
just  across,  hidden  by  the  beautiful  St.  Mary's 
Church,  lies  Carrollton,  the  home  of  Charles 
Carroll.^  It  is  occupied  now  by  the  Redemp- 
torist  priests,  and  the  profane  shoe  of  a  woman 
can  gain  for  its  owner  no  nearer  view  than  that 
to  be  had  from  the  bridge  that  spans  the  water- 
way below.  It  looks  a  very  charming  place, 
built  in  the  Dutch  rather  than  the  Georgian 
taste  :  gray,  small  windows,  high-roofed,  and 
set  in  a  garden  which  is  what  all  Annapolis 
gardens  are,  and  what  all  gardens  everywhere 
ought  to  be,  an  ordered  wilderness  of  hollies, 
box,  magnolias,  roses,  lilacs,  more  roses  and 
yet  more  lilacs,  jessamine,  wallflowers,  iris, 
lilies,  violets,  daffodils, — all  the  old-fashioned 
flowers  which  ever  were  and  ever  will  be  the 
dearest  and  sweetest  flowers  in  the  world. 

It  is  hard  to   come   back  even  to  the  first 
days  of  the  century  just  closing.     The  defence 

'  Of  all  the  deeds  whereby  Charles  Carroll  served  his  country, 
none,  perhaps,  was  more  noteworthy  than  the  writing  of  the  four 
letters  to  the  Maryland  Gazette,  in  1773,  signed  "First  Citizen." 
In  them  he  pitted  his  young  strength  against  the  marvellous  learning 
of  Daniel  Dulany,  the  greatest  lawyer  of  all  the  colonies,  whose  let- 
ters to  the  same  paper  were  signed  "  Antilon."  His  brave  defence 
of  the  rights  of  the  people  brought  Mr.  Carroll  the  unprecedented 
honor  of  an  adjournment  of  the  Legislature  that  that  body  might 
visit  his  house  e7i  masse,  to  express  its  thanks  and  appreciation. 


Annapolis  67 

made  by  the  guns  of  Fort  Severn,  which  kept 
Admiral  Cockburn  at  bay,  seem  but  recent 
history  in  the  light  of  other  years,  nor  can  the 
stirring  scenes  of  the  Civil  and  Spanish 
wars  claim  even  a  glance.  Filled  with  the 
spirit  of  the  golden  days  of  the  Athens  of 
America,  we  sit  in  the  deep  window-seat  of  a 
panelled  room,  looking  out  across  intervening 
lush  and  flowery  growths,  at  the  dome  of 
the  State  House  and  at  the  aerial  procession 
of  the  old  denizens.  What  a  procession  it 
is!  Indians,  explorers.  Lords  Proprietary, 
Governors  Royal,  Republican,  Puritans, 
Cavaliers,  priests,  shipowners,  sailors,  slaves  ! 
Ships  sail  out  with  rich  freights  of  to- 
bacco and  other  Colonial  produce,  and  ships 
sail  in,  bearing  yet  richer  stores  of  silks  and 
spices,  wines  and  perfumes,  silver  and  porcelain 
and  sumptuous  household  furnishings.  We 
see  the  growth  in  aristocracy,  in  wealth,  in 
hospitality,  in  luxury,  the  plenty  of  those  lav- 
ish boards,  the  splendor  and  courtliness  of 
dress  and  manners  of  the  gentry.  Sedan  chairs, 
carried  by  the  liveried  servants,  attended  by  link 
boys  and  by  bowing,  perruqued  gentlemen  in 
gold-lace  waistcoats  and  buckled  shoes,  bear 
the  patched  and  powdered  ladies  to  balls  and 


68  Annapolis 

routs.  We  hear  the  gossip  of  the  playhouse — 
the  first  in  America — -or  of  the  races.  The 
bon  mots  of  the  Tuesday  Club  are  told  again  ; 
the  wit  flashes  at  the  dinner  given  in  honor 
of  the  King's  birthday  ;  the  defeat  of  the  Pre- 
tender, the  birth  of  the  Dauphin,  the  repeal  of 
the  Stamp  Act,  the  coming  of  Washington. 
Anything  would 

"  Serve  as  excuse  for  the  glass  " 

in  those 

"  Very  merry, 
Dancing,  drinking. 
Laughing,  c^uaffing,  and  untliinking  times." 

We  hear,  above  the  sfrave  tones  of  the  men 
who  are  talking  of  the  affairs  of  state,  the  clear 
voices  of  the  women — fair,  slender,  sweet,  in 
pearls  and  brocade,  singing  to  the  accompani- 
ment of  spinet  or  harpsichord  music,  as  unlike 
ours  as  were  their  faces  or  their  thoughts,  and 
we  all  but  forget  that  the  Past  is  dead  and  can 
come  no  more,  and  that  these  are  but  echoes 
and  shadows  and  the  ashes  of  roses. 

Behind  a  long  brick  wall,  gated  and  sentried, 
lies  the  United  States  Naval  Academy,  and 
another  world, 

"  But  that,"   as    Hans    Andersen  says,    "  is 


70  Annapolis 

another  story  "  ;  a  story  familiar  at  a  thousand 
American  firesides  where  the  life  of  a  son  dedi- 
cated to  the  navy  is  lived  over  by  fond  hearts ; 
a  story  told  on  every  wave  of  every  sea  where 
our  American   ships  ride  on  their  mission. 

On  the  13th  of  June,  1845,  James  K.  Polk, 
being  President  of  the  United  States,  and 
George  Bancroft,  Secretary  of  the  Navy — a 
letter  was  written  by  Mr.  Bancroft  to  a  Board 
of  Examiners  of  Midshipmen,  sitting  in  Phila- 
delphia, proposing  the  foundation  of  a  naval 
school,  and  suggesting  Fort  Severn  as  a  suita- 
ble site.  Urged  by  Commodore  Thomas 
Ap-Catesby  Jones  and  Captain  Isaac  Mayo, 
the  Committee  approved  the  suggestion,  and, 
although  the  usual  congressional  and  sectional 
opposition  had  to  be  overcome,  the  School 
was  opened  on  October  loth  of  the  same  year. 
During  the  war  there  was  a  temporary  flight 
to  Newport,  and  there  have  been,  from  time 
to  time,  various  schemes  for  removing  it  per- 
manently from  Annapolis.  It  has  long  since 
become  a  permanent  fixture,  and  additions 
have  been  made  to  the  Fort  Severn  property 
(purchased  in  1808),  making  an  ample  and 
beautiful  home  for  the  cadets  and  their  corps 
of  instructors. 


Annapolis  71 

Time  ceases  to  be  subject  to  clocks  when 
one  enters  the  green,  shady  Academy  grounds, 
beside  which  the  waters  flash  and  gleam,  and 
bells  divide  the  hours  of  the  busy  lives  of  the 
lithe  young  sailors  who  are  forever  marching 
under  the  trees  to  this  duty  or  to  that ;  and 
whose  four  years  of  residence  are  crowded 
with  ten  thousand  things  which  a  landsman 
need  not  know,  but  which  go  to  make  a  finished 
seaman.  Among  the  officers,  gravely  saluting 
them  as  they  go  to  classes,  one  sees  many  a 
famous  face,  for  many  of  the  simple,  quiet  gen- 
tlemen have  done  great  deeds  in  their  day. 

There  are  some  memorials  of  older  days — 
the  monument  which  recalls  our  victory  at 
Tripoli,  some  cannon  captured  in  some 

"  Sea-fight  far  away," 

and  some  figure-heads  of  ancient  ships.  Most 
precious  of  all  is  the  worn  flag,  guarded  jeal- 
ously in  the  Naval  Institute,  which  bore  the 
wonderful  message 

"  Don't  give  up  the  Ship." 

By  the  docks  lie  various  craft  needed  for 
the  instruction  of  the  midshipmen  ;   and  with 


7^  Annapolis 

them  the  old  Saniec,  dismantled,  a  ghost  of  her- 
self, lies  at  her  last  moorings.  She  has  seen 
strange  sights  in  her  day,  the  old  Santee,  none 
perhaps  stranger  than  the  trim  young  steel 
giants  of  our  modern  navy  which  steam  up  the 
Bay  at  times. 


^(^'^^ 


THE  OLD  GOVERNORS'  MANSION,  NOW  THE  NAVAL  ACADEMY 
LIBRARY. 

Historically,  the  gem  of  the  Academy  is  the 
Library  building,  which  was  built  by  Edmund 
Jennings,  and  served  as  a  home  for  our  gov- 
ernors from  1760  until  1868.  It  has  had  Wash- 
ington for  its  guest,  and  many  another  great 
man  of  his  time.     And  so,  no  doubt,  had  the 


Annapolis  j^) 

fine  old  home  of  the  Dulanys,  near  by,  which 
was  built  as  early  as  1751.  An  iconoclastic 
superintendent  ordered  its  destruction  in  1883, 
— a  loss  irreparable  to  the  lovers  of  the  old 
town. 

And  all  are  its  lovers,  who  have  once  felt  its 
abiding  charm. 


FREDERICK  TOWN 


THE  GARDEN  SPOT  OF  MARYLAND" 


By  SARA  ANDREW  SHAFER 


LONG  after  the  lower  counties  and  the  east- 
ern shore  of  Maryland  had  been  turned 
from  a  wilderness  into  a  rich  and  prosperous 
country,  and  after  Annapolis  had  grown  to  be 
one  of  the  most  brilliant  and  important  cities  of 
the  New  World,  there  lay  in  the  western  part  of 
the  domain  granted  to  the  Calverts  and  their 
heirs  forever  a  vast  and  beautiful  region,  which 
was  not  only  Terra  Marice,  but  terra  incognita 
as  well.  Noble  mountains,  the  remains  of  far 
older  and  nobler  Alps,  guarded  the  valleys 
worn  by  innumerable  streams,  and  rich  with 
the  detritus  of  uncounted  ages  of  erosion. 
Vegetation  flourished  under  the  kindly  skies, 
and  green  things  of  every  kind,  from  loftiest 
oaks  to  humblest  mosses,  grew  in  rank  luxuri- 
ance over  the  heritage  of  the  wild  creatures  of 

75 


76  Frederick  Town 

earth  and  air,  and  the  scarcely  less  wild  In- 
dians. The  Susquehannoghs,  who  chiefly 
lorded  it  here,  were  of  the  fearless  and  noble 
Iroquois  stock,  and,  whatever  they  lacked,  had 
certainly  "  a  genius  for  nomenclature."     Their 

"  Love  of  lovely  words 

has  left  in  one  fair  valle}-  such  names  as 
Catoctin  for  its  loner  western  mountain  rangre  ; 
Linganore  for  its  eastward  hills,  and  Potomac, 
Monocacy  and  Tuscarora  for  its  rivers  and 
streams.  Vanished,  like  the  red  leaves  of  an 
autumn  forest,  in  these  soft  syllables  we  hear, 
even  yet,  the  voices  of  the  "  First  Families  "  of 
Frederick. 

One  of  the  far-reaching  consequences  of  the 
Revocation  of  the  Edict  of  Nantes,  in  1685, 
was  the  unrest  and  fear  which  spread  all  over 
Europe,  and  scattered  to  the  four  winds  tens  of 
thousands  of  the  best  men,  not  only  of  France 
and  the  Low  Countries,  but  of  Germany, 
Switzerland  and  Bohemia.  It  is  to  one  of 
these  waves  of  emigration  that  we  must  look 
for  the  hardy  pioneers  who  came  southward 
from  the  settlements  in  Lower  Pennsylvania. 
With  the  land-hunger  and  the  land -judg- 
ment characteristic  of  the  Teuton,  they  "  took 


Frederick  Town  -]-] 

up,"  as  the  phrase  goes,  the  lands  lying  along 
the  river  they  —  and  the  Carrolls,  long  after 
them  —  called  Monnokasi,  or  Monockessy. 
Certain  traits  they  brought  with  them  as  a 
matter  of  course,  these  Palatines, — as  they 
were  indiscriminatingly  called, — industry,  econ- 
omy, honesty,  and  an  absolute  devotion  to 
the  principles  of  civil  and  religious  liberty. 
Some  were  Labadists,  some  Mennonites,  some 
Lutherans,  but  for  the  greater  part  they  were 
of  the  Calvinistic  churches,  and  held  the  Hel- 
vetic Confession  and  the  Heidelberg  Cate- 
chism next  in  honor  to  the  open  Bible. 
Hardly  less  picturesque  than  the  Indians  were 
these  pioneers  :  the  women  in  homespun  kirtle 
and  linen  bodice ;  the  men  in  the  deerskin 
costume  of  the  frontiersman,  tomahawk,  rifle 
and  fringed  leggings  included.  It  was  not 
long  before  they  had  built  roads,  cleared 
fields,  sowed  crops,  built  houses  and  barns, 
and  had  planted  those  countless  lovely  or- 
chards that  make  the  valley  one  drift  of  rose 
and  snow  when  May-time  comes. 

In  1745  another  settlement  was  begun  along 
one  of  the  newest  roadways,  the  first  house 
being  built  by  Thomas  Schley.  There  is  a  glim- 
mer of  doubt  as  to  whence  came  the  name  of 


yS  Frederick  Town 

the  village  and  the  county  formed  a  year  or 
so  later.  There  was,  it  is  true,  a  very  disso- 
lute Frederick  Calvert  who  died  —  the  last 
Lord  Baltimore  —  in  1771  ;  but  there  was  also 
a  Frederick,  Prince  of  Wales,  father  to  King 
George  III.  ;  and  it  was  no  doubt  in  his  honor 
that  the  name  was  given  by  Charles  Calvert, 
-then  bowing  and  smiling  at  the  English  court. 
In  1766,  the  frontier  troubles  known  as  the 
French  and  Indian  War  had  assumed  such 
proportions  that  General  Braddock  came  over 
to  see  what  could  be  done  about  it.  A  young 
surveyor  from  Virginia,  tall  and  brave,  with 
splendid  physique  and  a  judgment  which  im- 
pressed all  who  came  in  contact  with  him,  was 
invited  to  act  as  aide-de-camp  for  the  British 
commander.  The  meeting  between  Braddock 
and  George  Washington  took  place  in  Fred- 
erick, in  April  of  the  ill-fated  year  1755,  as 
all  men  may  read,  not  only  in  the  pages  of 
more  serious  historians,  but  also  in  a  chronicle 
steeped  with  the  very  spirit  of  the  eighteenth 
century,  wherein  William  Makepeace  Thack- 
eray has  recounted  the  adventures  of  The  Vir- 
ginians. Another  visitor  at  the  same  time  was 
Benjamin  Franklin,  Postmaster-General  of  the 
Colonies,  who  came  to  arrange  for  the  delivery 


Frederick  Town  79 

of  despatches  to  and  from  the  expedition, 
and  who  then  first  saw  the  younger  soldier. 
A  court-house  was  building,  by  the  way,  but, 
by  fair  means  or  foul,  Braddock,  whose  angry 
bluster  and  loud  oaths  we  can  yet  almost  hear, 
aided  by  the  wily  Franklin,  impressed  so  many 
hundreds  of  horses,  wagons,  teamsters  and  ser- 
vants that  the  work  was  delayed  for  some  years 
after  the  testy  General,  in  his  coach-and-six, 
drove  off  over  the  mountain  on  May  -  day 
morning.  He  left  a  memorial  on  Catoctin, — 
a  walled-in  spring  of  icy  water,  covered  by  a 
great  flat  rock,  under  whose  shelter  tiny  ferns 
and  silvery-green  mosses  love  to  grow. 

There  was  a  road  to  Baltimore  and  to  An- 
napolis as  early  as  1 760,  and  a  curiously  large 
commerce  with  the  Saltzburgers  who  had  set- 
tled in  Georgia.  The  town  flourished  apace, 
and,  besides  the  Palatines,  some  Scotch-Irish 
and  many  English  began  to  arrive.  The  gen- 
try had  not  been  slow  in  obtaining  patents  to 
the  fertile  lands.  In  1723  the  Carrolls  re- 
ceived the  splendid  manor  of  Carrollton,  ten 
thousand  acres  in  extent.  Daniel  Dulany  had 
eight  thousand  acres,  and  the  last  Lord  Bal- 
timore nearly  twice  as  much,  while  other  gen- 
tlemen had  estates  of  immense  value.     With 


8o  Frederick  Town 

fortunes  such  as  these  figures  represent  a 
splendid  style  of  living  was  possible,  the  effect 
of  which  was  seen  on  every  hand.  In  i  760.  the 
Market  House  was  built,  and  the  Presbyte- 
rians had  their  pastor,  while  as  early  as  1764 
the  Reformed  Church  boasted  of  a  belfry, 
which,  remodelled  in  1807,  is  yet  one  of  the 

"  Clustered  spires  of  Frederick  " 

that  rise  from  what  the  enamored  Washington 
called  "  the  garden-spot  of  Maryland." 

In  1765,  Father  Hunter  began  the  arduous 
duties  of  a  priest  whose  flock  was  scattered 
over  uncounted  miles  of  wilderness  ;  and  even 
before  that,  perhaps,  the  whole  country,  which 
embraced  all  that  is  now  known  as  Western 
Maryland,  was  one  parish  of  the  Established 
Church,  with  x'\ll  Saints'  for  its  centre.  Her 
clergymen  had  an  annual  revenue  of  five  thou- 
sand pounds,  and  this  rich  plum  was  given  to 
one  or  another  of  the  beneficed  clergy  who 
too  often  disgraced  the  reign  of  the  early 
Georges.  The  most  notorious  of  all  the  New 
World  incumbents  was,  perhaps,  the  Rev. 
Bennett  Allen,  who  came  to  All  Saints'  in 
1768,  greatly  against  the  will  of  the  people. 
On    the    first    Sunday    after    his    arrival    the 


82  Frederick  Town 

vestrymen  left  the  church  in  a  body.  A  peace- 
making worshipper  ventured  up  to  the  pulpit 
with  a  remonstrance,  only  to  be  met  with  a 
drawn  pistol  in  the  clerical  hand,  and  an  oath- 
ful  threat  of  immediate  happy  despatch  if  he 
interfered  with  the  service.  That  his  wild 
career  included  the  murder  of  one  Dulany  in 
a  duel,  and  the  plotted  assassination  of  an- 
other, and  that  he  died  an  unknown,  drunken 
outcast  of  London  streets,  is  the  shameful  and 
pitiful  ending  of  this  o'ertrue  tale.  That  he 
has  been  succeeded  by  a  long  line  of  devout 
and  godly  men  has  long  ago  effaced  the  stain 
he  left  upon  the  parish  annals. 

Some  miles  to  the  northeast  of  the  town  a 
young  man,  Robert  Strawbridge  by  name,  who 
had  imbibed  the  doctrines  of  the  Wesleys, 
formed  a  class  after  their  ideas  in  1 764,  which 
Bishop  Asbury  said  was  "the  first  in  Mary- 
land and  America."  The  small  log  chapel 
which  they  built  antedated  any  other  Metho- 
dist meeting-house  in  America  by  three  years, 
which  gives  the  county  the  right  to  the  title 
of  the  Mother  of  American  Methodism. 

History  was  fast  making  in  those  days.  In 
1 764  the  Stamp  Act  was  passed,  and  a  com- 
missioner   was    appointed    to    distribute    the 


Frederick  Town  83 

detested  paper  in  the  province  of  Maryland. 
Court  was  sitting  in  Frederick  Town,  but 
there  was  no  paper  of  the  prescribed  variety 
on  hand.  On  the  23d  of  November,  1765, 
twelve  free  men  of  Frederick  decreed  and  de- 
clared that  Frederick  Court  could  attend  to  its 
own  affairs  without  any  aid  from  his  Majesty 
the  King,  and  that,  paper  or  no  paper,  its  work 
should  proceed.  John  Darnell,  the  clerk,  de- 
murred, refused  to  issue  unstamped  paper,  was 
committed  for  contempt,  submitted,  and  thus 
the  first  repudiation  of  the  Stamp  Act  was  ac- 
complished. The  names  of  the  twelve  justices 
who,  without  hesitation  or  fear,  took  this  great 
step,  were  these  :  Joseph  Smith,  David  Lyon, 
Charles  Jones,  Samuel  Beall,  Joseph  Beall,  Pe- 
ter Bainbridge,  Thomas  Price,  Andrew  Hugh, 
William  Blair,  William  Luckett,  Thomas  Dick- 
son and  Thomas  Beatty. 

People  took  their  pleasures  gladly  in  those 
days,  and  in  an  old  New  York  Postboy  (Janu- 
ary 2,  1766),  and  a  yet  older  Philadelphia  Ga- 
zette (December  26,  1 765),  we  read  of  a  right 
jolly  mock  funeral,  in  which  the  Stamp  Act 
was  buried  with  much  ceremony,  the  chief 
mourner  being  the  unlucky  distributor,  Zacha- 
riah  Hood,  in  effigy,  which,  during  the  frolic, 


84  Frederick  Town 

was  hanged  in  the  Court  House  Square,  near 
the  stocks  and  whipping-post.  The  usual  sup- 
per and  ball  of  the  period  ended  the  day. 

The  skies  grew  ever  darker,  and,  in  the 
next  old  paper  to  which  we  turn,  we  read  of 
pledges  made  to  support  the  blockaded  Bos- 
tonians,  on  whose  shoulders  the  burden  of  a 
common  injustice  was  laid.  Next  came  the 
call  to  arms,  and  the  start,  on  their  long  march  to 
Boston,  of  two  companies,  in  command  of  Cap- 
tain Michael  Cresap,  whose  father  had  blazed 
his  way  to  the  Ohio.  One  of  his  lieutenants 
was  John  Ross  Key,  whose  son  Francis,  yet 
unborn,  was  to  make  his  name  forever  famous. 

On  the  roll  of  honor  the  county  gives  high 
place  to  Sergeant  Laurence  Everhart,  who,  in 
the  battle  of  Cowpens,  prisoner  though  he 
was,  bore  himself  right  haughtily  in  the  pres- 
ence of  Colonel  Tarleton.  Escaping  by  good 
fortune,  a  better  fortune  enabled  him  to  deal  a 
blow  at  a  British  officer  whose  sword  was  lifted 
aeainst  Colonel  William  Auo^ustine  Wash- 
ington,  so  saving  that  brave  life.  Long  years 
afterward  we  hear  of  a  meeting  between  the 
veterans,  when  "  with  tears  and  kisses "  the 
old  bond  was  strengthened. 

At   home   work    scarcely   less  patriotic  was 


Frederick  Town  85 

doing.  Flax,  hemp  and  wool  were  grown,  spun 
and  woven ;  a  gun-lock  factory  was  estab- 
lished, saltpetre  was  made  and  in  the  iron  fur- 
naces owned  by  D.  Hughes  and  by  Thomas 
Johnson  and  his  brothers,  cannon  and  bombs 
were  cast.  The  Market  House  became  an  ar- 
senal. Hessian  prisoners,  hundreds  of  them, 
were  confined  in  a  log  jail  built  for  them,  and 
in  some  stone  barracks,  still  partly  standing. 
To  reinforce  Washington,  and  to  share  the 
perils  of  Valley  Forge,  seventeen  hundred  men 
left  home,  and  until  peace  was  declared,  the  peo- 
ple of  Frederick  bore  their  share  of  the  danger 
and  the  loss  with  all  bravery  and  cheerfulness. 
It  is  like  a  page  from  the  history  of  the  dark- 
est ages,  however,  to  read  this  sentence  passed 
upon  seven  Tories,  convicted  of  treasonable 
conspiracies  : 

Yoii  shall  be  carried  to  the  gaol  in  Frederick  to7vn,  and 
be  hanged  therein  :  you  shall  be  cut  down  to  the  earth  alive, 
and  your  entrails  shall  be  taken  out  and  burned  while  you  are 
yet  alive.  Your  heads  shall  be  cut  off  ;  and  your  body  shall 
be  divided  into  four  parts  ;  and  your  head  and  quarters 
shall  be  placed  where  His  Excellency  the  Governor  shall 
appoint.     So  Lord  have  mercy  on  your  poor  souls." 

This  terrible  sentence  was  in  four  instances 
executed  ! 


86 


Frederick  Town 


A  mile  or  so  north  of  the  town,  where  the 
lands  are  richest,  and  the  view  up  and  down 
the  valley  and  the  blue  mountains  is  finest,  lies 
Rose  Hill,  where  Thomas  Johnson  lived  and 
died.       Born   in    1732,  of  sires  who  had  com- 


ROSE  HILL,  THE  HOME  OF  GOVERNOR  THOMAS  JOHNSON. 


manded  ships  against  the  Invincible  Armada, 
this  man  had  few  peers  in  the  era  which  his 
wisdom,  his  industry,  his  sterling  honesty  and 
his  pure  patriotism  adorned.  He  had  made  a 
name  at  the  brilliant  provincial  Bar,  when  in 
1765,   in  answer  to    an    appeal    made   by  the 


Frederick  Town  87 

Massachusetts  Assembly,  a  Maryland  Assem- 
bly was  formed,  and  he  took  his  place  among 
the  men  who  had  set  for  themselves  the  task 
of  righting  the  wrongs  of  the  colonies. 
He  became  a  member  of  the  Committee  of 
Safety  and  the  Committee  of  Remonstrance, 
and,  in  1774,  he  aided  John  Adams,  Richard 
Henry  Lee  and  Patrick  Henry  in  framing  the 
Address  to  the  Crown.  On  the  15th  of  June, 
1775,  Thomas  Johnson  nominated  George 
Washington  to  be  Commander-in-Chief  of  the 
Continental  armies.  This  act,  which  would 
seem  to  be  glory  enough  for  one  life,  was 
but  an  incident  in  his  busy  days,  for  his 
name  is  heard  of  wherever  probity  and  wise- 
heartedness  were  needed.  That  it  does  not 
appear  on  the  Declaration  of  Independence  is 
owing  to  the  fact  that  the  serious  illness  of  a 
member  of  his  family  made  his  absence  from 
Philadelphia  necessary  on  that  fateful  2d  of 
July. 

When  the  partition  from  England  was  com- 
pleted, and  the  Colony  became  a  State,  he  was 
chosen  to  be  its  first  Governor,  an  office  he 
filled  for  three  terms.  He  was  an  ardent  sup- 
porter of  the  Federal  Constitution,  and  was  one 
of  those  instrumental  in  making  Washington 


88  Frederick  Town 

our  first  President.  The  portfolio  of  Sec- 
retary of  State  and  the  District  Judgeship 
were  earnestly  and  affectionately  urged  upon 
him  by  his  old  friend,  who  finally  persuaded 
him  to  accept  a  seat  upon  the  Supreme  Bench. 
This  he  soon  resigned,  by  reason  of  delicate 
health.  Together  with  Daniel  Carroll  and 
Dr.  Stewart  he  selected  the  sites  for  the  Capi- 
tol, the  President's  mansion  and  various  other 
public  buildings  of  the  new  seat  of  govern- 
ment, after  which  he  retired  to  private  life  ;  his 
one  subsequent  public  appearance  being  on 
the  occasion  of  a  commemorative  funeral  ser- 
vice after  the  death  of  Washington,  when  he 
pronounced  a  beautiful  eulogy.  His  own  life 
drew  to  its  earthly  close  in  1819,  and  his  dust 
rests  in  All  Saints'  burying-ground,  surrounded 
by  the  ancient  tombstones  of  his  friends  and 
neighbors,  overgrown  with  wild  grasses  and 
myrtle,  swept  by  the  pure  mountain  winds 
and  brooded  by  the  deep  peace  of  the  valley 
he  loved  so  well.  His  best  eulogy  was  the 
few  words  spoken  by  John  Adams  in  which 
he  said  that  "  but  for  such  men  as  Richard 
Henry  Lee,  Thomas  Jefferson,  Samuel  Chase 
and  Thomas  Johnson  there  would  have  been 
no  Revolution." 


Q  z 

z  o 

<  3 

2  S 

O  m 

CO  "i 


90  Frederick  Town 

After  the  peace  the  town  grew  steadily  in 
wealth,  comfort  and  luxury.  The  road  which 
is  called  the  National  Pike,  the  great  arter}' 
between  East  and  West,  was  also  the  main 
street  of  Frederick,  and  was  the  scene  of  much 
life.  Inns  of  great  excellence  divided  the 
journeys  into  pleasant  stages,  wagons  and 
coaches  dashed  out  and  in  to  a  great  snapping 
of  whips,  jangling  of  bells  and  blowing  of 
horns,  and  while  the  horses  were  chanofed 
many  a  glimpse  was  had  of  the  men  who  were 
talked  about  early  in  the  nineteenth  century. 

In  1797,  Frederick  College  was  founded. 
The  church  on  the  hill  was  outofrown.  The 
older  gentry  had  worshipped  there  ;  Bishop 
Claggett  had  held  there  in  1 793  the  first  Con- 
firmation in  the  State,  and  the  grassy  church- 
yard was  sacred  with  much  holy  dust, —  but  it 
was  too  small  and  remote  for  the  growing  con- 
gregation. Partly  by  gift,  and  partly  by  the 
curious  aid  of  a  lottery,  a  second  church  was 
built  in  1814,  still  used  and  loved  as  All  Saints' 
Chapel.  It  had  a  ceiling  of  singular  beauty, 
high-backed  pews,  a  gallery  for  servants,  and 
in  1826  the  "new  organ,"  yet  in  daily  use,  was 
placed  therein. 

One  of  the  faithful  worshippers  in  the  church 


Frederick  Town 


91 


was  Francis  Scott  Key,  who  was  born  in  the 
upper  part  of  the  county  in  1780,  but  who 
spent  some  years  of  his  early  manhood  prac- 
tising at  the  Fred- 
erick Bar.  Of  his  . 
quiet,  lovely  life, 
but  little  is 
known,  compara- 
tively, although  a 
few  persons  yet 
linger  who  re- 
member him.  A 
good  citizen,  a 
good  master,  a 
good  lawyer,  a 
poet  of  very  sweet 
and  true,  if  lim- 
ited, powers,  the 
deep  spirituality 
of  whose  few 
hymns  can  never 
sound  elsewhere  as  in  the  old  church,  he  would 
probably  have  passed  through  and  out  of  life 
as  many  other  good  men  do,  but  for  the  strain 
of  one  September  night  in  18 14,  when  his  eager 
eyes  watched  for  the  first  ray  of  dawn,  if  haply 
they  might  yet  see  the  Star  Spangled  Banner 


FRANCIS  SCOTT  KEY. 


92 


Frederick  Town 


afloat  over  Fort  Mc Henry,  and  a  nation's  love 

and  loyalty  found  everlasting  voice  through  his. 

To  Frederick,  in  1801,  came  Mr.  Key's  close 

friend,  soon  to 
be  his  sister's 
husband,  Roger 
Brooke  Taney, 
for  many  }'ears 
Chief  Justice  of 
the  United 
States.  For 
twenty-one  years 
he  lived  there, 
and  returned,  his 
long  life,  full  of 
work  and  of 
honors,  over,  to 
sleep  beside  his 
mother  in  the  lit- 
tle burial-place 
of  the  Jesuits  at  the  Novitiate. 

May  a  brief  pause  be  made  in  this  hasty 
chronicle  to  look  at  the  great  Roman  Catholic 
foundations  of  Frederick  which  lend  such  an 
unusual  aspect  to  the  part  of  the  town  in  which 
they  stand.  The  long,  dull  facade  of  the  Noviti- 
ate fronts  the  school  and  the  beautiful  church, 


CHIEF  JUSTICE   ROGER   E.   TANEY. 


Frederick  Town  93 

and  next  that  the  great  walls  of  the  convent 
arise,  shutting  out  the  world  from  the  still, 
cloistered  life  within.  Many  men  eminent  in  the 
order  have  been  part  of  the  place — none  of 
them  more  interesting,  perhaps,  than  Father 
John  Du  Bois,  who  came  thither  in  1792.  He 
was  an  emigre  of  the  French  Revolution,  in 
which  his  old  classmates  at  the  Colleo-e  of 
Louis-le-Grand,  Camille  Desmoulins  and 
Robespierre,  figured  so  largely,  and  he  after- 
wards wore  a  mitre. 

In  1824,  Lafayette  included  Frederick  in  his 
great  tour  of  rejoicing,  and  was  accorded  the 
usual  welcoming  parades,  speeches,  dinner  and 
ball.  Only  a  few  years  ago  a  beautiful,  blind 
old  lady,  who  had  been  a  beautiful,  bright-eyed 
young  wife,  used  to  tell  of  her  noble  guest.  She 
was  a  favorite  granddaughter  of  Governor  John- 
son, and  in  her  girlhood  had  helped  Louisa 
Johnson,  the  wife  of  John  Ouincy  Adams,  to 
dispense  the  unpretentious  hospitality  of  the 
White  House.  Mr.  Adams,  she  said,  got  up 
and  built  his  hearth-fire  of  a  mornine  himself  ! 
It  was  a  chapter  from  an  old  romance  to  listen 
to  her  kindly  talk  of  "  the  old  times  and  the  days 
that  were  before  us,"  and  when  she  "  went 
away,''  almost  the  last  of  the  perfect  breeding 


94  Frederick  Town 

and  high  simphcity  of  the  old,  old  days  left 
Maryland  forever. 

So  much  must  be  left  out  that  hardly  a  word 
can  be  given  to  the  Civil  War,  which  found  the 
old  town  alive  with  the  old  fervor.  Not  that  all 
its  sons  thought  alike.  Sometimes  the  gray 
uniforms  thronored  the  streets  ;  sometimes  the 
blue ;  once  there  was  even  a  skirmish  on  the 
main  street.  In  the  terrible  Battle  Autumn  of 
1862,  Frederick  was  the  heart  of  the  war.  Dr. 
Holmes  came  down,  after  Antietam  battle,  to 
make  his  famous  "  Hunt  after  the  Captain," 
and  even  the  sad,  gaunt  face  of  President  Lin- 
coln was  seen  amonof  the  rows  of  wounded  and 
dying  men  that  filled  convent  and  church — 
every  available  space.  The  roads  for  miles  in 
every  direction  were  crowded  with  the  para- 
phernalia of  war — of  hurt  and  of  healing. 

In  the  early  September  days.  Generals  Lee 
and  Stonewall  Jackson  were  both  herewith  the 
armies,  gathering  for  the  fearful  struggles  of 
South  Mountain  and  Antietam.  On  the  night 
of  the  7th  General  Jackson  drove  into  town  in 
an  ambulance,  to  attend  divine  service  in  the 
Reformed  Church,  where,  as  he  wrote  to  his 
wife,  and  as  is  told  of  him  by  many  who  saw 
him,  he  fell  asleep.     On   the   morning  of  the 


Frederick  Town 


95 


TOth,  the  camps  breaking,  and  the  march  over 
the  mountain  beginning,  General  Jackson, 
with  Major  H.  Kyd  Douglass  of  his  staff,  rode 
to  the  Presbyterian  manse  on  Second  Street, 
to  pay  his  respects  to  his  friends,  the  Rev.  Dr. 


THE  OLD  REFORMED  CHURCH. 


and  Mrs.  Ross.  As  they  had  not  yet  arisen, 
the  General  pencilled  a  line  of  greeting  and 
farewell,  with  military  precision  noting  the 
hour,  "5;^  A.M.,"  and  remounting  his  horse  under 
the  great  silver-poplar  rode  down  Mill  Alley,  a 


96 


Frederick  Town 


narrow  lane  which  crosses  Carroll  Creek  ])y  a 
ford  and  a  high  foot-bridge,  and  so  on  to  the 
Pike,  or  Patrick  Street,  where  he  rejoined  his 

command,  and 
led  them  west- 
ward. 

A  few  hundred 
yards  to  the  east 
of  Mill  Alley, 
and  a^rain  across 
a  winding  of 
Carroll  Creek, 
lived  a  very  old 
and  intensely 
loyal  woman, 
Barbara  Fri- 
tchie,whowas  no 
myth,  but  a  fig- 
ure familiar  t  o 
Frederick  from 
time  immemo- 
Born  in  Lancaster,  Pennsylvania,  on  De- 


BARBARA    FRITCHIE. 


rial. 


cember  3,  1 766,  she  had  come,  as  Barbara 
Hauer,  to  Frederick  so  many  years  before 
that  on  the  occasion  of  the  visit  of  General 
Washington  in  1791  and  a  ball  given  in  his 
honor,  she   loaned   some  of  her   choice  china 


Frederick  Town 


97 


to  adorn  the  table,  and  his  Excellency  drank 
a  cup  of  tea  poured  from  her  yet  carefully 
cherished  teapot.  She  and  her  husband,  John 
Fritchie,  a  glover,  had  long  lived  in  a  small 
house  adjoining  the   creek  which  was  demol- 


HOME   OF    BARBARA    FRITCHIE. 


ished  after  one  of  the  perilous  floods  to  which 
the  stream  was  formerly  subject.  On  the  op- 
posite side  of  the  creek  is  a  tiny  park,  with  a 
deep,  cool  spring  which  is  often  called  by  her 
name,  and  from  which  many  a  weary  soldier 
drank.  She  was  of  the  Reformed  faith,  and 
her  devotion    to  the  Union   cause  was  almost 


98  Frederick  Town 

passionate.  Small  hospitality  had  she  for  the 
tired  Confederate  who  sometimes  dropped  for 
a  moment's  rest  upon  her  "  stoop."  Such  vis- 
itors were  shown  her  cane,  and  in  most  vigorous 
Saxon  were  invited  to  "  move  on."  It  was  said 
that  just  before  the  battle  of  South  Mountain, 
as  the  Union  troops  were  passing  her  house. 
General  Reno,  seeing  her  venerable  welcoming- 
face,  asked  her  age. 

"  Ninety-six  !  Boys,  give  three  cheers  for 
ninety-six  ! "  he  cried,  and  so  rode  on  to  his 
death.  Perhaps  she  waved  a  small  flag  at  him, 
but  this  one  thing  we  know,  that  until  Barbara 
Fritchie,  who  died  on  the  i8th  of  December  of 
that  year,  and  Stonewall  Jackson  met  in 
Whittier's  stirring  ballad,  they  never  met  at 
all.  Those  who  honor  the  memory  of  a  brave 
Christian  soldier  are  glad  that  the  story  is  not 
true  ;  those  who  see  in  the  poem  an  incident 
too  picturesque  to  be  willingly  lost  from  the 
story  of  the  war,  are  sorry  that  it  is  not  ;  but 
all  who  have  seen  the  valley  will  be  for 
ever  grateful  for  the  perfect  picture  of  its 
loveliness. 

Clinging  to  its  old  faiths,  its  old  churches, 
its  old  traditions,  its  old  customs  ;  clinging  to 
its    old  houses,  its   old  mahogany  and   china 


Frederick  Town 


99 


and  portraits,  Its  sweet  old  gardens  and  its 
sweeter  friendliness  and  helpfulness  and  loy- 
alty, the  generations  come  and  go. 

"  And  ever  the  stars  above  look  down 
On  the  stars  below  in  Frederick  town." 


THE  HATED  BRITISH  TAX- 
STAMP,  1765-1766. 


WASHINGTON 
THE   NATION'S   CAPITAL 

By    frank   a.    VANDERLIP 

MANY  generations  before  George  Washing- 
ton, as  the  New  World  Romulus,  paced 
off  in  person  the  metes  and  bounds  of  the  Fed- 
eral City,  the  powerful  Algonquin  tribe  of 
American  Indians  had  established  their  capital 
within  the  confines  of  what  is  now  the  District 
of  Columbia.  Powhatan,  the  father  of  Poca- 
hontas, conducted,  with  his  eighty  painted 
chiefs,  his  savage  councils  of  war,  or  peaceably 
smoked  his  calumet  within  view  of  the  hill  des- 
tined to  become  the  site  of  the  forum  of  the 
Republic.  Nacochtank,  afterwards  Latinized 
as  Anacostan  by  the  Jesuit  fathers  who  ac- 
companied Lord  Baltimore  to  Maryland,  and 
now  called  Anacostia,  a  suburb  of  Washington, 
was  the  precise  location  of  Powhatan's  wigwam 
capital. 


I02  Washington 

The  first  white  man  to  approach  the  seat  of 
government  of  these  barbarian  warriors  was 
Captain  John  Smith,  who  sailed  up  the  "  Pat- 
awomeke  "  in  1608.  The  famous  adventurer 
only  partially  explored  the  country,  the  princi- 
pal item  in  the  log-book  of  his  voyage  being 
that  he  found  the  river  "  full  of  luscious  fish 
and  its  shores  lined  with  ferocious  savages." 

Sixteen  years  later  there  began  to  appear  in 
British  publications  vivid  recitals  of  adventure 
in  the  regions  bordering  the  Patawomeke,  and 
alluring  descriptions  of  the  "  fair  and  fertile  " 
domain  surrounding  the  ancient  capital  of  the 
Algonquins.  These  articles  were  written  by 
Henry  Fleet,  a  daring  trader,  who,  in  search  of 
furs,  and  braving  the  perils  of  capture,  had 
gone  fearlessly  as  an  uncommissioned  ambas- 
sador to  the  council-seats  of  the  Monahoacs, 
the  Monacans  and  the  Powhatans,  had  estab- 
lished trade  relations  with  these  crude  inhabi- 
tants and  had  roamed  at  will  through  their 
wildernesses.  "  The  most  healthful  and  pleas- 
antest  region  in  all  this  country "  was  his 
characterization  of  that  portion  of  Maryland 
embracing  the  district  to  be  chosen  nearly 
three  centuries  later  as  the  seat  of  our  national 
Government. 


Washington  103 

The  description  of  this  region  sent  to  Eng- 
land by  the  intrepid  fur  trader  attracted,  in 
1660,  a  party  of  emigrants  who  founded  homes 
in  the  Maryland  forests  and  meadows,  fought 
or  bargained  for  advantage  with  the  Indiajis, 
and  soon  reduced  to  ruin  the  rude  huts  of  their 
primitive  capital.  Husbandry  invaded  their 
domains  and  corn  and  wheat  crops  were 
grown.  It  looked  as  if  romance  had  fled  to 
remoter  forests,  and  that  henceforth  that  por- 
tion of  the  New  World  now  the  capital  city  of 
the  United  States  would  be  given  over  to  the 
"  homely  joys  and  destiny  obscure  "  of  emi- 
grant farmers  and  their  heirs. 

For  more  than  a  hundred  years  the  only 
record  these  humble  settlers  gave  the  outside 
world  was  that  they  had  found  the  soil  produc- 
tive and  that  their  farms  were  bordered  by  a 
majestic  river  on  which  white  swan  floated  in 
innumerable  flocks. 

It  was  reserved  for  the  father  of  the  Ameri- 
can Republic  to  discover  that  from  the  time  of 
the  original  occupation  of  the  region  this  sim- 
ple colony  of  wood-choppers  and  ploughmen 
had  cherished  a  reputed  prophecy  made  in  1663 
that  this  locality  would,  in  the  course  of  destiny, 
become  the  renowned  capital  of  a  great  nation,. 


I04  Washino^^ton 


To  Washinirton  and  Major  L'Enfant,  who 
in  an  antique  tavern  in  Georgetown  met  the 
heirs  and  descendants  of  these  pioneers  to 
negotiate  the  transfer  of  property  to  the  Gov- 
ernment, the  strange  story  was  told  that  one, 
Francis  Pope,  in  the  year  1663,  had  had  a  vision 
wherein  he  beheld  a  stately  house  of  parliament 
on  Avhat  is  now  Capitol  Hill.  In  pursuance  of 
this  dream  he  had  purchased  that  eminence  and 
had  called  it  "  Rome,"  and  in  further  keeping 
with  his  sense  of  divination  had  given  to  a 
sluggish  yellow  stream  at  the  base  of  the  hill 
the  name  of  "  Tiber."  Pope,  it  was  asserted, 
died  in  the  faith  that  the  wooded  hill  he  had 
christened  would  some  day  be  crowned  with  a 
grand  edifice  devoted  to  the  deliberations  of  a 
mighty  empire.  Some  of  the  more  irreverent 
settlers,  dolefully  observing  the  continued  re- 
moteness of  Pope's  uninhabited  "  Rome"  from 
any  possible  capital,  derisively  substituted,  it 
was  claimed,  the  name  Goose  Creek  for  the 
Tiber  and  denied  the  hill  the  dignity  of  even  a 
colloquial  title. 

The  Tiber  still  flows  on,  but  in  the  obscurity 
of  a  modern  sewer. 

The  poet,  Tom  Moore,  who  stumbled 
through  the  bogs  and  over  the  "  magnificent 


Washington 


105 


distances  "  of  what  pretended  to  be  a  capital 
city  in  1804,  turned  the  story  around  and  pic- 
tured the  founders  of  the  city  revehng  in  bur- 
lesque dreams  concerning  the  future  of  the 
capital,  and  attempt- 
ing to  mimic  the  glory 
of  Rome  and  give 
absurd  dignity  to 
Goose  Creek  by  nam- 
ing it  the  Tiber. 

The  original  maps 
of  the  city,  drawn  by 
Major  L'Enfant  in 
1790,  give  both  names 
t  o  the  stream,  and 
there  has  come  to 
light  a  much  older  document,  proving  the 
groundlessness  of  the  poet's  lampoon,  and  giv- 
ing substance  to  the  romantic  tale  concerning 
Francis  Pope  and  his  prophecy.  It  is  his 
original  abstract  of  title  and  reads  as  follows  : 

"  June  the  5th,  1663.  Layd  out  for  Francis  Pope  of 
this  Province  Gentleman  a  parcel  of  land  in  Charles 
County  called  Rome  lying  on  the  East  side  of  the  Ana- 
costian  River  beginning  at  a  marked  oak  standing  by 
the  river  side,  the  bounded  tree  of  Captain  Robert 
Troop  and  running  north  by  the  river  for  breadth  the 
length   200  perches  to  a  bounded  oak  standing   at  the 


PIERRE    CHARLES    L'ENFANT. 


io6  Washington 

mouth  of  a  bay  or  inlet  called  Tiber     .     .     .     and  now 
laid  out  for  400  acres  more  or  less." 

Whether  this  nomenclature  in  the  title  at- 
tests the  dream  of  this  pioneer  or  was  adopted 
by  him  in  a  spirit  of  whimsical  humor  may  be 
left  to  the  fancy  of  the  reader,  but  the  fact 
that  237  years  ago  Capitol  Hill  was  called 
Rome,  and  a  stream  at  its  base  the  Tiber, 
gives  dramatic  interest  to  the  reputed  proph- 
ecy. It  is  one  of  the  several  beautiful  tra- 
ditions that  impart  a  romantic  interest  to  the 
genesis  of  Washington. 

The  record  of  the  complicated  circumstances 
resultinor  in  the  final  location  of  a  site  for  the 
capital  is  one  of  the  most  fascinating  chapters 
in  American  history.  The  Continental  Con- 
gress was  a  migratory  body.  It  had  no  abid- 
ing capital,  the  exigencies  of  war  forcing  it 
from  city  to  city.  During  the  stress  of  the 
Revolution  it  convened  its  sessions  at  Phila- 
delphia, Baltimore,  Lancaster,  York,  Princeton, 
Annapolis,  Trenton  and  New  York  City. 

For  four  years  prior  to  the  capitulation  of 
Cornwallis,  Congress  had  held  its  sessions  in 
Philadelphia,  and  the  city  seemed  destined  to 
become  the  permanent  capital.  Public  senti- 
ment favored  such  selection,  for  the   Quaker 


Washington  107 

City  was  indentified  with  most  of  the  o-reat 
and  far-reaching  acts  of  the  American  colonies. 
There  a  document  of  human  rights,  unparal- 
leled since  Magna  Charta,  had  been  signed  by 
a  company  of  immortals,  and  there  the  Liberty 
Bell  had  pealed  forth  its  joyous  tones  for 
freedom. 

Notwithstanding  the  splendid  sentiments 
favoring  the  retention  of  Philadelphia  as  the 
capital,  there  were  statesmen  in  that  day  who 
opposed  selecting  a  city  whose  immediate  in- 
terests and  political  strength  might  influence 
and  perhaps  dominate  the  legislation  that 
should  be  national.  Paris  had  not  yet  risen 
to  override  France,  but  London  had  at  times 
shown  its  mastery  over  Parliament  and  the 
King.  Some  of  the  public  men,  therefore, 
hopeful  of  establisiiing  the  capital  remote  from 
the  concentrated  power  of  a  great  city,  favored 
the  creation  of  a  city  that  should  be  wholly 
under  the  control  of  the  nation. 

The  project  might  never  have  been  accom- 
plished but  for  the  mutinous  uprising  of  a 
body  of  unpaid  soldiers  who  attempted  to 
compel  Congress  by  force  of  arms  to  settle 
their  arrears.  In  this  extremity,  the  Execu- 
tive Council  of  Pennsylvania  was  appealed  to, 


io8  Washington 

but  declined  to  interfere,  claiming  that  the 
State  militia  could  not  be  relied  upon,  as  its 
members  were  largely  in  sympathy  with  the 
revolters.  In  the  bankrupt  condition  of  the 
Treasury,  however,  Congress  had  a  sure  de- 
fence, and  the  hopelessness  of  further  sedition 
served  to  disarm  the  insurrectionary  band. 
But  Congress  had  learned  its  lesson  and 
sought  a  more  peaceful  session  at  Trenton. 

From  this  time,  with  Congrress  sittino;  in 
various  cities  until  i  790,  the  question  of  select- 
ing a  permanent  site  for  the  capital  became 
one  of  the  most  engrossing  issues  before  the 
American  people.  New  York  offered  public 
buildings  free  ;  Virginia  and  Maryland  offered 
to  cede  districts  ten  miles  square  and  to  fur- 
nish additional  subsidies  as  an  inducement. 
The  advantages  of  Philadelphia  and  Balti- 
more were  ably  advanced,  while  Germantown, 
Conogocheague,  Wright's  Ferry,  Peach  Bot- 
tom and  other  ambitious  centres  sent  persua- 
sive orators  into  the  acrimonious  forum  to 
plead  their  respective  cla'ms. 

Contumacy,  satire,  hatred,  envy  and  unrea- 
son struggled  with  wisdom  and  patriotism  for 
nearly  a  decade.  It  was  conceded  by  all  that 
the  American  capital  should  be  fixed  as  near 


Washington  109 

as  possible  to  what  would  remain  the  centre  of 
population,  but  as  to  the  location  destined  to 
enjoy  the  distinction  there  was  the  greatest 
possible  conflict  of  conjecture.  Goodhue  de- 
clared that  it  would  remain  in  the  North  for 
countless  ages,  and  that  when  it  did  shift  it 
would  travel  toward  the  manufacturing  districts 
of  New  England. 

Stone  of  Maryland  argued  that  as  the  tides 
of  humanity  followed  the  lines  of  least  resist- 
ance, they  would  flow  into  the  warm  and  fertile 
South. 

The  vast  domain  to  the  westward  was  not 
taken  into  the  calculations  of  statesmen  pre- 
dicting the  course  of  empire.  The  profoundest 
philosophers  of  the  latter  part  of  the  eigh- 
teenth century  were  unable  to  grasp  the 
transformations  soon  to  be  wrought  by  the 
application  of  steam.  They  could  not  dream 
that  subsequent  generations  would  establish  a 
teeming  civilization  in  the  distant  and  unmeas- 
ured solitudes.  A  century  later,  when  the 
eleventh  census  was  taken,  the  centre  of  popu- 
lation was  five  hundred  and  twenty  miles  west- 
ward of  the  spot  Congress  had  fixed  upon  as 
the  unchanging  focus  of  our  growth.  Madi- 
son   alone    caught    a   glimpse    of   continental 


I  lo  Washington 

possibilities,  and  believed  that  America  mifrht 
"  speedily  behold  an  astonishing-  mass  of  peo- 
ple on  the  western  waters  ; "  and  although  for 
that  reason  it  might  be  impossible  to  select  a 
site  for  the  capital  that  would  remain  central 
as  regards  population,  it  was  of  the  utmost 
importance  to  choose  a  point  whence  the 
knowledge  of  new  enactments  could  be 
the  most  quickly  disseminated  throughout  the 
land.  If  it  were  possible,  he  contended,  to 
promulgate  the  proceedings  of  Congress  by 
some  simultaneous  operation,  it  would  be  of 
less  consequence  where  the  seat  of  govern- 
ment mieht  be  established.  A  site  alonor  the 
Potomac  began  to  be  favored,  as  the  then  pro- 
jected canal,  now  paralleling  the  Potomac  from 
Georofetown  to  Cumberland,  would  afford  the 
most  convenient  and  rapid  means  of  conveying 
to  waiting  citizens  beyond  the  Alleghanies  the 
documentary  decrees  of  the  Congress  of  the 
United  States. 

Could  Washington  and  his  colleagues  have 
imagined  that  in  a  later  age  the  tidings  of  the 
deliberations  of  Congress,  instead  of  depend- 
ing for  transmission  upon  canal-boats,  would 
be  flashed  instantly,  by  the  clicking  of  mysteri- 
ous keys,  to  the  distant  shores  of  the  continent, 


Washington 


1 1 1 


and  even  to  possessions  beyond  the  seas,  the 
Potomac  to-day  would  probably  not  be  graced 
by  the  beautiful  city  of  Washington. 

Nearly  all  the  members  agreed  that  the  cap- 
ital should  be  located  on  some  waterway  com- 
municatinor  with  the  Atlantic  and  connected 
with  the  territory  of  the  West.  The  Dela- 
ware, the  Susquehanna,  the  Potomac,  and  even 
Codorus  Creek,  were  urged. 

In  the  midst  of  the  diatribes  which  these 
debates  created,  the  unconscious  comedian 
of  the  House,  Thomas  Vining  of  Maryland, 
delivered  a  speech  in  favor  of  the  Potomac 
which  became  famous  not  for  its  lucidity  or 
logic,  but  for  the  absurdities  of  its  bombast. 

Charles  Dickens's  comment  concerninof  Con- 
gressional  debate  of  a  later  day,  that  the  constit- 
uents of  American  statesmen  boasted  not  of 
what  their  representatives  said,  but  of  the 
length  of  time  they  talked,  would  have  fitting- 
ly described  the  attitude  of  the  popular  mind 
toward  the  fight  for  the  capital.  Every  mem- 
ber of  both  Houses  had  won  the  plaudits  of 
his  respective  followers  by  almost  endless 
speeches  championing  some  locality,  or  de- 
voted to  arraignment  of  the  sinister  motives 
of  opponents. 


I  12 


Washington 


Mr.  Vining's  speech  was  a  decided  relief. 
In  the  first  place,  it  was  brief,  and  secondly, 
its  freedom  from  malevolence  together  with 
its  bizarre  humor  gave  it  a  distinction  unique 
in  the  famous  controversy. 

"Though  the  interest  of  the  State  I  represent  is  in- 
volved in  it,"  said  he,  "  I  am  yet  to  learn  of  the  Com- 
mittee whether  Congress  are  to  tickle  the  trout  on  the 
stream  of  the  Codorus,  to  build  their  sumptuous  palaces 
on  the  banks  of  the  Potomac,  or  to  admire  commerce 
with  her  expanded  wings  on  the  waters  of  the  Delaware. 
I  liave,  on  this  occasion,  educated  my  mind  to  impar- 
tiality and  have  endeavored  to  chastise  its  prejudices. 
I  confess  to  the  House  and  to  the  world,  that  viewing 
the  subject  with  all  its  circumstances,  I  ani  in  favor  of 
the  Potomac.  I  wish  the  seat  of  government  to  be  fixed 
there,  because  I  think  the  interest,  the  honor  and  the 
greatness  of  the  country  require  it.  I  look  on  it  as  the 
centre  from  which  those  streams  are  to  flow  that  are  to 
animate  and  invigorate  the  body  politic.  From  thence, 
it  appears  to  me,  the  rays  of  government  will  most  nat- 
urally diverge  to  the  extremities  of  the  Union.  I  declare 
that  I  look  on  the  western  territory  in  an  awful  and 
striking  point  of  view.  To  that  region  the  unpolished 
sons  of  earth  are  flowing  from  all  quarters,  men  to  whom 
the  protection  of  the  laws,  and  the  controlling  force  of 
the  government  are  equally  necessary  ;  from  this  great 
consideration  I  conclude  that  the  banks  of  tlie  Potomac 
are  the  proper  station." 

Obscurity  of  logic  and  serio-comic  rhetoric 


Washinofton  1 1 


'fe 


had  accomplished  what  solemn  oratory  and 
studied  satire  had  failed  to  do,  and  the  House, 
for  the  first  time  since  the  question  of  locatino- 
the  capital  had  provoked  the  ambitions  and 
hostilities  of  every  State,  joined  in  unanimous 
and  jocular  applause. 

The  Constitution  adopted  in  1787  gave  to 
Congress  the  power  to  "  exercise  exclusive 
legislation  in  all  cases  whatsoever  over  such 
District  (not  exceeding  ten  miles  square)  as 
may  by  cession  of  particular  States  and  the 
acceptance  of  Congress  become  the  seat  of 
the  Government  of  the  United  States."  This 
provision  served  only  to  increase  the  compe- 
tition. After  the  conflicting  efforts  of  several 
States  to  secure  the  prize,  a  bill  was  passed  on 
September  27,  1789,  locating  the  capital  at 
Germantown,  but,  pending  an  amendment  to 
the  bill,  the  Senate  adjourned,  and  when  the 
next  session  was  convened  both  Houses  had 
decided  to  change  their  vote. 

The  contest  miorht  have  continued  lone 
enough  to  dismember  the  Union  but  for  the 
genius  of  Jefferson  and  Hamilton,  who  brought 
about  a  compromise.  Jefferson,  in  his  A7ia, 
has  recorded  the  inside  history  leading  to  the 
final  selection  of  a  site  for  the  capital.      At  the 


114  Washington 

time  Hamilton  was  urcring  the  passage  of  his 
bill  to  have  the  Federal  Government  assume 
the  State  debts,  amounting  to  $20,000,000. 
The  measure  was  defeated  in  the  House,  and 
Hamilton  invoked  Jefferson's  aid  to  secure  a 
reconsideration,  stating  that  the  creditor  States 
of  the  East  threatened  secession  if  their  claims 
were  not  considered. 

"  I  proposed  to  him,"  says  Jefferson,  "  to  dine  with  me 
the  next  day,  and  I  would  invite  another  friend  or  two 
and  bring  them  into  conference  together,  and  I  thought 
it  impossible  that  reasonable  men,  consulting  together 
coolly,  could  fail  by  some  mutual  sacrifices  of  opinion, 
to  form  a  compromise  which  was  to  save  the  Union. 
The  discussion  took  place.  It  was  finally  agreed  that 
whatever  importance  had  been  attached  to  the  rejection 
of  the  proposition,  the  preservation  of  the  Union  and  of 
concord  among  the  States  was  more  important,  and  that, 
therefore,  it  would  be  better  that  the  vote  of  rejection 
should  be  rescinded,  to  effect  which  some  members 
should  change  their  votes.  But  it  was  observed  that 
this  pill  would  be  peculiarly  bitter  to  the  Southern  States, 
and  that  some  concomitant  measure  should  be  adopted 
to  sweeten  it  a  little  to  them.  There  had  been  proposi- 
tions to  fix  the  seat  of  government  either  at  Philadelphia 
or  at  Georgetown,  on  the  Potomac  ;  and  it  was  thought 
by  giving  it  to  Philadelphia  for  ten  years  and  to  George- 
town permanently  afterwards,  this  might  calm  in  some 
degree  the  ferment  which  might  be  occasioned  by  the 
other  measure  alone.     So  two  of  the  Potomac  members, 


Washington  1 1 5 

White  and  Lee,  agreed  to  cliange  their  votes,  and  Ham- 
ilton undertook  to  carry  the  other  point." 

Some  historians  have  accepted  Jefferson's 
account  as  final,  but  others,  studying  the  in- 
flexible purposes  of  Washington,  believe  that 
a  controlling  power  more  potent  than  the  wine 
and  compromises  at  a  political  dinner  finally 
secured  the  vote  for  the  Potomac  site.  Years 
before,  when  a  young  lieutenant,  encamped 
with  Braddock's  army  on  Observatory  Hill, 
Washington  had  "  noted  the  beauty  of  the 
broad  plateau  "  on  which  the  Capitol  was 
destined  to  be  reared,  and  had  "  marked  the 
breadth  of  the  picture,  and  the  strong  colors 
in  the  ground  and  the  environing  wall  of 
wooded  heights  which  rolled  back  against  the 
sky,  as  if  to  enclose  a  noble  area  of  landscape, 
fit  for  the  supreme  deliberations  of  a  conti- 
nental nation." 

The  loftiest  minds  in  Congress  were  swayed 
by  Washington's  judgment.  They  agreed  with 
him  that  America  should  establish  the  splendid 
precedent  of  a  nation  locating  and  founding  a 
city  by  legislative  enactment  for  its  permanent 
capital.  Furthermore,  they  wished  to  honor 
their  first  President  and  the  orreat  eeneral  and 
counsellor  who  had   made  their  independence 


ii6  Washington 

possible,  by  conferring  upon  him  the  power  to 
select  for  this  Federal  city  the  locality  he  had 
in  prophetic  fancy  chosen  as  a  suitable  site  for 
the  capital  of  the  Republic. 

In  the  act  passed  July  i6,  1790,  Congress 
expressed  its  faith  in  the  President  by  permit- 
ting him  to  establish  the  capital  anywhere 
alone  the  Potomac  between  the  East  Branch 
and  the  Conogocheague,  a  distance  of  eighty 
miles.  The  boundaries  of  no  other  city  were 
ever  fixed  by  so  illustrious  a  surveyor.  It  is 
recorded  that,  as  he  walked  over  the  wilder- 
ness with  his  engineering  instruments  and 
corps,  he  was  harassed  by  the  "  importunities 
of  anxious  residents  and  grasping  speculators," 
but  not  for  a  moment  did  he  waver  in  his 
purpose  to  select  the  site  whose  majesty 
had  appealed  to  him  in  former  years  as  a 
fitting  environment  for  the  Federal  home. 
Within  nine  months  the  confines  of  the  fed-, 
eral  territory  were  established.  The  corner- 
stone was  laid  with  appropriate  ceremonies 
at  Jones's  Point,  Alexandria,  April  15,  1791, 
but  the  territory  west  of  the  river  was  re- 
troceded  to  Virginia  in  1846.  Not  a  cent 
was  advanced  by  Congress  for  buildings  or 
grounds.       In    fact,  with    an   empty   treasury 


Washino^ton  1 1 7 


't> 


and  no  credit,  Congress  was  unable  to  give 
financial  aid. 

Washington  himself  drew  up  the  original 
agreement  by  which  the  owners  were  to  convey 
the  land  to  the  Government.  The  proprietors 
agreed  that  all  lands  necessary  for  streets,  ave- 
nues, alleys,  etc.,  should  be  surrendered  free  of 
cost.  The  building  lots  were  to  be  equally  ap- 
portioned between  the  Government  and  the 
individuals.  For  the  larger  plots  necessary  for 
public  buildings  and  other  government  uses, 
the  owners  were  to  receive  compensation  at  the 
rate  of  £2^  per  acre.  Washington  thought 
that  by  this  arrangement  the  Government 
might  sell  the  smaller  lots  and  with  the  proceeds 
"buy  the  large  ones  needed  for  public  uses. 

It  is  a  memorable  picture,  that  of  the  "  Cin- 
cinnatus  of  the  West,"  the  renowned  states- 
man. President,  general  and  engineer,  planting 
his  theodolite  here  and  there,  marking  the  con- 
fines of  the  capital  city,  or  travelling  on  horse- 
back to  the  Georgetown  tavern  to  discuss 
terms  and  titles  with  the  owners  of  the  land. 
The  spectacle  of  Washington  laying  out  the 
city  and  presiding  at  the  laying  of  the  corner- 
stone of  its  Capitol,  appealed  to  the  dramatic 
sense  of  Daniel  Webster,  who  in  delivering  the 


ii8 


Washington 


oration  on  the  occasion  of  the  laying  of  the 
corner-stone  of  the  extension  of  the  Capitol, 
July  4,  1 85 1,  alluded  as  follows  to  the  city's 
illustrious  founder:     "  He  heads  a  short  pro- 


STATUE    OF    GEN.    WINFIELD   SCOTT,    WASHINGTON. 


cession  over  these  naked  fields ;  he  crosses 
yonder  stream  on  a  fallen  tree  ;  he  ascends  to 
the  top  of  this  eminence,  whose  original  oaks 
of  the  forest  stood  as  thick  around  him  as  if 


Washington  119 

the  spot  had  been  devoted  to  Druidical  wor- 
ship, and  here  he  performs  the  appointed  duty 
of  the  day." 

The  planning  of  the  city  was  entrusted  to 
Pierre  Charles  L'Enfant,  who  had  been  a  major 
of  engineers  during  the  Revolution,  and  later 
had  proved  a  popular  architect  both  in  Phila- 
delphia and  New  York.  He  studied  the  Poto- 
mac situation  and  drew  up  the  plan  of  a  city  on 
so  magnificent  a  scale  that  it  was  considered 
wild  and  chimerical.  Nothing  like  it  existed 
in  the  New  World,  and  few  cities  In  the  Old 
equalled  the  grandeur  of  his  projections. 
L'Enfant  was  removed  before  having  pro- 
gressed far  with  the  work,  and  Andrew  Elllcott 
of  Pennsylvania  was  appointed  In  his  place. 
But  the  present  widely  admired  plan  of  Wash- 
ington had  Its  origin  In  the  artistic,  creative 
mind  of  L'Enfant. 

In  1792,  Congress  voted  him  a  sum  of  five 
hundred  guineas,  and  deeded  him  a  lot  in 
Washington,  as  compensation  for  his  services  ; 
but  the  designing  of  the  capital  city  had  been 
to  him  a  work  of  art  and  love,  and  he  rejected 
all  considerations  of  payment.  His  dismissal 
had  been  brought  about  by  his  refusal  to  sub- 
mit his  plans  to  the  Commissioners,  his  defence 


I20  Washington 

being  that  if  his  design  were  pubhshed  specu- 
lators would  seize  upon  the  "  vistas  and  archi- 
tectural squares  and  raise  huddles  of  shanties 
which  would  permanently  disfigure  the  city." 

When  Madison  became  President,  he  sought 
to  honor  L'Enfant  by  offering  him  the  profes- 
sorship of  engineering  at  West  Point,  but  again 
the  artistic  foreigner  declined  to  accept  any- 
thing at  the  hands  of  the  people  who,  he  felt,  had 
failed  to  appreciate  the  supreme  effort  of  his 
genius.  His  final  years  he  spent  as  a  pensioner 
at  the  manor  houses  of  the  Digges  family  in 
Maryland.  He  died  in  the  home  of  Dudley 
Digges  in  1824,  and  was  buried  in  the  garden  of 
the  Chellum  Castle  Manor  near  Bladensburg, 
where  to-day  his  grave  is  marked  only  by  a 
cedar  tree.  Inasmuch  as  the  great  projects  of 
L'Enfant  are  receiving  to  this  day  the  attention 
of  the  Government,  it  would  not  be  inappro- 
priate, in  the  centennial  year  of  Washington's 
existence,  to  give  his  remains  fitting  and  affec- 
tionate sepulture  in  the  city  he  designed. 

The  Commissioners,  at  a  meeting  held  in 
Georgetown,  September  8,  1791,  decided  to 
call  the  Federal  district,  "  Territory  of  Colum- 
bia," and  the  Federal  city,  the  "  City  of  Wash- 
ineton."     At  this  same  meeting  the  method  of 


Washington  121 

designating  the  streets  by  letters  and  numbers 
was  adopted.  The  name  of  the  city  has  re- 
mained unchanged,  but  the  name  of  the 
territory  was  afterwards  changed  by  Congress 
to  the   "  District  of  Cohimbia." 

For  a  short  time  after  the  city  was  plotted, 
Washington  enjoyed  its  first  real  estate  boom, 
although  that  word  was  not  then  known.  The 
lots  sold  more  readily  abroad  than  at  home, 
and  for  a  time  brought  extravagant  prices  in 
London.  However,  comparatively  few  seem 
to  have  been  disposed  of,  and  the  meagre  re- 
turn from  sales  was  most  unfortunate  because 
the  money  was  badly  needed  to  pay  for  the 
first  public  buildings.  Finally,  the  President 
made  a  personal  appeal  to  Maryland,  which  lent 
$100,000,  not,  however,  without  first  securing 
the  personal  bond  of  the  Commissioners. 

The  Capitol  was  planned  by  Dr.  William 
Thornton,  an  Englishman,  who  seems  to  have 
been  a  man  of  some  natural  talent,  but  un- 
skilled in  architecture.  Stephen  L.  Hallett, 
a  professional  house-builder,  also  submitted 
specifications  for  the  building,  and  there  is  good 
reason  to  suppose  that  Thornton's  plans,  as 
finally  accepted,  were  considerably  affected  by 
Hallett's  more  practical  drawings. 


122 


Washington 


When  the  corner-stone  of  the  Capitol  was 
ready  to  be  laid,  great  preparations  were  made 
for  the  event.  Companies  of  militia  and 
artillery  were  called  out,  and  civic  societies, 
public  officials  and  many  distinguished  citizens 
were  invited.  With  appropriate  ceremonies  of 
the  military  and  of  the  Masonic  order,  the 
President  deposited  in  the  corner-stone,  to- 
gether with  corn,  wine,  and  oil,  a  silver  plate 
bearing  this  inscription,  which  the  Commis- 
ioners  first  ordered  to  be  read  aloud : 

"  This  Southeast  Corner  Stone  of  the  Capitol  of  the 
United  States  of  America  in  the  City  of  Washington  was 
laid  on  the  i8th  day  of  September,  1793,  in  the  thirteenth 
year  of  American  Independence,  in  the  first  year  of  the 
second  term  of  the  Presidency  of  George  Washington, 
whose  virtues  in  the  civil  administration  of  his  country 
have  been  as  conspicuous  and  beneficial  as  his  military 
valor  and  prudence  have  been  useful  in  establishing  her 
liberties,  and  in  the  year  of  Masonry,  5793,  bv  the  Presi- 
dent of  the  United  States,  in  concert  with  the  Grand 
Lodge  of  Maryland,  several  lodges  under  its  jurisdiction, 
and  Lodge  No.  22,  from  Alexandria,  Virginia. 

Thomas  Jefferson, 

David  Stuart, 

Daniel  Carrol,  Commissioners. 

Joseph  Clark,  R.  W.  G.  M.  P.  T. 

James  Hoban, 

Stephen  Hallett,  Architects. 

CoLLEN  Williamson,  M.  Mason." 


■mt^^^"*^ 


124  Washington 

Two  years  later  Thomas  Twinint;-,  an  Eng- 
lish traveller  who  had  taken  an  important  part 
in  laying-  the  foundations  of  the  Indian  Empire, 
visited  Washington,  and  thus  describes  a  trip 
from  Georgetown  to  Mr.  Law's  house  at 
Washino-ton  : 

O 

"  Having  crossed  an  extensive  tract  of  level  country 
somewhat  resembling  an  English  heath,  I  entered  a  large 
wood  through  which  a  very  imperfect  road  had  been 
made,  principally  by  removing  the  trees,  or  rather  the 
upper  parts  of  them,  -in  the  usual  manner.  After  some 
time  this  indistinct  way  assumed  more  the  appearance 
of  a  regular  avenue,  the  trees  here  having  been  cut  down 
in  a  straight  line.  Although  no  habitation  of  any  kind 
was  visible,  I  had  no  doubt  but  I  was  now  riding  along 
one  of  the  streets  of  the  metropolitan  city.  I  continued 
in  this  spacious  avenue  for  half  a  mile,  and  then  came 
out  upon  a  large  spot,  cleared  of  wood,  in  the  centre  of 
•vhich  I  saw  two  buildings  on  an  extensive  scale,  and 
some  men  at  work  on  one  of  them.  The  only  human 
beings  I  should  have  seen  here  not  a  great  many  years 
before  would  have  been  some  savages  of  the  Potomac, 
whose  tribe  is  said  to  have  sent  deputies  to  treat  with 
William  Penn  at  the  assembly  he  held  at  Chester. 

"  Advancing  and  speaking  to  these  workmen,  they  in- 
formed me  that  I  was  now  in  the  centre  of  the  city,  and 
that  the  building  before  me  was  the  Capitol,  and  the 
other  destined  to  be  a  tavern.  As  the  greatest  cities 
have  a  similar  beginning,  there  was  really  nothing  sur- 
prising here,  nor  out  of  the  usual  order  of  things  ;  but 


Washington  125 

still  the  scene  which  surrounded  me — the  metropolis  of 
a  great  nation  in  its  first  stage  from  a  sylvan  state — 
was  strikingly  singular.  I  thought  it  the  more  so,  as  the 
accounts  which  I  had  received  of  Washington  while  at 
Philadelphia,  and  the  plan  which  1  had  seen  hung  up  in 
the  dining-room  at  Bladensburg,  had  prepared  me  for 
something  rather  more  advanced.  Looking  from  where 
I  now  stood,  I  saw  on  every  side  a  thick  wood  pierced 
with  avenues  in  a  more  or  less  perfect  state." 

Sometime  before  this,  and  in  answer  to  an 
advertisement  by  the  Commissioners,  James 
Hoban,  an  Irish  architect,  then  actine  as  su- 
pervising  architect  of  the  Capitol,  had  sub- 
mitted plans  for  a  "  President's  House,"  and 
they  had  been  accepted.  Inasmuch  as  the  Act 
of  Congress  creating  the  District  decreed  that 
the  houses  for  Congress  and  the  President 
should  be  ready  for  occupancy  by  the  year 
1800,  the  work  on  both  was  now  carried  for- 
ward vigorously.  Washington,  retiring  to  his 
home  at  Mount  Vernon  at  the  close  of  his 
second  term  in  1797,  gave  over  the  care  of  the 
Federal  city  to  his  successor,  John  Adams. 
President  Adams  first  appointed  a  new  archi- 
tect for  the  Capitol,  Stephen  Hallett,  who 
resigned  after  holding  the  position  for  one 
year.  George  Hadfield,  an  Englishman,  next 
appointed,   resigned  in   1798,  and   left    James 


126  Washington 

Hoban,  the  supervising-  architect,  to  finish  the 
work  alone. 

Congress  having-  adjourned  about  May  20, 
1800,  to  meet  in  Washington  in  November, 
the  seat  of  ijovernment  was  removed  from 
Philadelphia  to  Washington  early  in  June  of 
that  year.  The  records  and  files  of  the  vari- 
ous departments  were  transferred  by  vessels 
chartered  for  the  purpose,  and,  as  soon  as  pos- 
sible, were  put  in  order  in  the  buildings  to 
which  they  had  been  assigned.  The  govern- 
ment officials  and  clerks  came  by  stage,  bring- 
ing their  families  with  them.  From  the  records 
of  the  Treasury  Department  it  appears  that 
the  Government  met  all  the  expenses  of  mov- 
ing them  and  their  household  effects. 

When  the  government  officials  arrived,  only 
the  north  wing  of  the  Capitol  had  been  com- 
pleted, while  the  Treasury  Building,  a  plain 
two-story  structure  of  thirty  rooms  located  on 
the  site  of  the  south  front  of  the  present  edifice, 
was  the  only  public  building  ready  for  the  oc- 
cupancy of  the  executive  departments.  Work 
had  been  begun  on  the  War  Office  at  the 
southwest  corner  of  the  White  House  grounds. 

When  Congress  convened  in  November,  lit- 
tie  progress  had  been  made.     The  few  hotels 


128  Washington 

and  buildings  of  the  city  were  so  overcrowded 
that  few  of  the  members  could  secure  quarters 
nearer  than  Georgretown,  three  miles  awav 
through  mud  and  forest.  Streets  existed  for 
the  most  part  only  on  paper,  and  Pennsylvania 
Avenue,  the  principal  thoroughfare,  was  really 
a  bog  lined  with  bushes.  The  only  sidewalk, 
that  from  the  Capitol  to  the  Treasury,  being 
made  of  stone  chippings,  so  wounded  the  feet 
and  tempers  of  pedestrians  as  to  make  the  mud 
of  the  street  preferable. 

One  of  the  few  ladies  to  follow  their  hus- 
bands into  "  the  wilderness  "  at  this  time  was 
Mrs.  Adams.  To  her  belonofs  the  distinction 
of  beinof  the  first  mistress  to  orrace  the  Presi- 
dent's  house.  The  house  itself  was  but  par- 
tially finished,  and,  though  Congress  had 
appropriated  $6000  with  which  to  furnish  it, 
but  little  of  the  furniture  was  in  place  when 
she  arrived.  Mrs.  Adams,  however,  seems  to 
have  been  of  a  bright  and  cheerful  disposition, 
for,  in  her  letters  to  her  dautrhter,  she  o-ives  a 
more  lenient  account  of  the  inconveniences  and 
a  more  just  view  of  the  possibilities  of  the  city 
than  many  of  the  new  residents.  During  the 
short  remaining  period  of  President  Adamxs's 
term,    Mrs.   Adams    assisted    her    husband    to 


130  Washino^ton 


receive  at  many  formal  dinners  and  stately 
functions,  and  under  their  combined  influence 
Washington  society  became  as  polished  and  as 
exclusive  as  the  best  in  other  cities. 

A  drawback  to  the  city's  progress  lay  in  the 
constant  agitation  for  the  removal  of  the  capi- 
tal—  an  agitation  that  in  no  wise  abated  until 
in  very  recent  times,  when  the  railroad  and 
the  telegraph  overcame  "  remoteness  and  in- 
accessibility," the  chief  grounds  for  complaint. 
The  press  of  New  York  and  Philadelphia 
united  with  the  Northern  members  in  declaim- 
ing against  the  discomforts  of  the  infant  city, 
and  such  pressure  was  brought  to  bear  that  in 
March,  1804,  ^  bill  "to  remove  the  seat  of 
government  to  Baltimore  "  passed  to  its  sec- 
ond readiuir  in  the  Senate.  However,  the 
"  Capital-movers,"  as  they  came  to  be  called, 
succeeded  only  in  retarding  the  growth  of  the 
city.  As  a  result,  at  the  close  of  Jefferson's 
administration  there  were  but  five  thousand 
inhabitants.  The  North  spread  the  sarcasm 
that  Washington  was  a  city  of  streets  without 
houses  and  houses  without  streets.  The  ludi- 
crous fame  of  America's  capital  created  laugh- 
ter even  in  Europe.  Foreigners  after  gazing 
at  the  President's  house  were  said  to  peer  into 


Washington 


i^i 


the  woods  and  inquire  ingenuously  where  the 
city  was.  The  satire  of  Tom  Moore  has  been 
mentioned.  Here  is  his  picture  of  Wash- 
ington : 

"  In  fancy  now  beneath  the  twilight  gloom, 
Come,  let  me  lead  thee  o'er  this  modern  Rome, 
Where  tribunes  rule,  where  duski  Davi  bow. 
And  what  was  Goose  Creek  once  is  Tiber  now. 
This  famed  metropolis,  where  fancy  sees 
Squares  in  morasses,  obelisks  in  trees  ; 

Which  travelling  fools  and  gazateers  adorn 
With  shrines  unbuilt  and  heroes  yet  unborn  ; 
Tho'  naught  but  wood  and     .     .     .     they  see 
Where  streets  should  run,  and  sages  ought  to  be." 

With  the  inauguration  ceremonies  of  Presi- 
dent Madison,  March  4,  1809,  the  capital  re- 
turned from  Jeffersonian  simplicity  to  the 
stateliness  and  fashion  of  Washinofton  and 
Adams.  Mrs.  Madison,  the  charming  hostess 
of  the  White  House,  revived  the  stately  din- 
ners and  formal  levees,  and  a  court  circle 
gradually  grew  up  resplendent  at  balls  and 
assemblies. 

The  War  of  181 2  had  a  special  bearing  on 
the  history  of  Washington.  It  had  been  in 
progress  almost  two  years  when,  early  in  the 
summer  of  18 14,  rumor  told  of  a  great   British 


132  '         Washington 

armada  fitting  out  at  Bermuda,  some  thought 
to  attack  New  York,  others  Bahimore,  An- 
napoHs  and  Washington. 

On  the  night  of  August  19,  18 14,  a  courier, 
dashing  at  full  speed  over  the  sandy  roads  of 
Maryland,  drew  rein  for  an  instant  at  every 
little  post-town  and  shouted  the  warning  note  ; 
"  To  arms  !  The  British  have  landed  at  Bene- 
dict, and  are  marching  inland.     To  arms  ! " 

Then  at  once  it  was  known  that  the  city  of 
Washington  was  the  object  of  the  invasion. 
The  British  forces  now  marching  upon  the  city 
numbered  51  23.  They  were  some  of  Welling- 
ton's veterans,  fresh  from  the  fields  of  France 
and  Spain.  Opposed  to  them  and  in  defence 
of  the  city.  General  Winder  had  nearly  six 
thousand  men.  Only  nine  hundred  of  these 
were  regular  troops. 

The  attempt  to  resist  the  invasion  resulted 
in  the  battle  of  Bladensburo-,  which  was  fought 
near  the  spot  which  later  became  famous  as 
duelling-grounds.  A  brief  but  brave  defence 
was  made,  the  raw  and  undrilled  American 
troops  being  compelled  to  give  way  to  the 
disciplined  veterans  who  had  fought  with 
Wellington. 

Washington   has  had   its   days   of    tragedy. 


,gflF«i 


.„JI=ft 


134  Washington 

Two  American  Presidents  have  been  assassi- 
nated within  the  city,  and  its  inhabitants  shud- 
dered at  the  approach  of  Southern  armies  duriui;;- 
the  Civil  War.  But  at  no  otlier  time  in  the  his- 
tory of  the  Federal  city  has  there  been  such  a 
moment  of  supreme  terror  as  on  the  night  of 
the  24th  of  August,  1 8 14,  when  the  British 
gave  to  the  flames  the  Capitol,  the  President's 
house,  the  Navy  Yard  and  the  Treasure 
President  Madison  and  his  Cabinet  had  taken 
refuge  in  flight ;  the  frightened  citizens  were 
hurrying  bewildered  into  Virginia  when,  to- 
wards sunset.  General  Ross  and  Admiral  Cock- 
burn  drew  up  their  troops  on  the  esplanade 
east  of  the  Capitol.  Thus  far  the  movement 
had  been  conducted  accordinij  to  the  rioid  eti- 
quette  of  war,  but  the  spectacle  of  the  Ameri- 
can capital  at  their  mercy  awoke  both  in 
officers  and  men  the  wanton  spirit  of  revenge. 
American  school-books  have  perpetuated 
the  unique  fable  that  the  British  held  a  mock 
session  in  the  Hall  of  the  House  of  Repre- 
sentatives ;  that  Cockburn  from  the  Speaker's 
desk,  while  the  soldiers  filled  the  seats,  put 
the  question  :  "  Shall  this  harbor  of  Yankee 
democracy  be  burned?"  and  that,  when  the 
motion  was  boisterously  carried,  gave   orders. 


Washington  i35 

to  apply  the  torch.  The  scene  is  an  imagi- 
nary one  ;  the  tale  is  a  piece  of  romance.  It 
is  the  sort  of  historical  fiction  that  Lamartine 
delighted  to  invent  to  add  dramatic  interest  to 
events. 

It  is  unnecessary  to  resort  to  imagination  to 
make  a  vivid  picture  of  the  sacking  of  Wash- 
ington. By  the  glare  of  the  burning  Capitol 
the  red-coats  marched  up  Pennsylvania  Avenue 
to  the  President's  house.  The  Palace,  as  the 
Federalists  called  it,  was  not  palatial.  The 
portico  had  not  been  built ;  what  was  to  be  the 
garden  was  a  field  of  rocks  and  tree  stumps  ; 
the  interior  of  the  house  was  crude,  and  the 
East  Room,  since  associated  with  great  histori- 
cal events,  had,  since  the  time  of  Mrs.  Adams, 
been  given  over  to  the  uses  of  the  laundry. 

A  second  fiction  connected  with  the  British 
raid  is  that  they  found  a  great  dinner  spread 
on  the  President's  table  and  in  much  glee  and 
derision  sat  down  to  devour  it.  That  tale,  like 
the  fable  of  the  mock  session  at  the  Capitol, 
was  given  to  a  London  paper  by  a  merry 
midshipman. 

At  midnight  a  violent  thunder-storm  checked 
the  four  conflagrations.  The  next  day  the 
British  renewed  the  devastation,  adding  to  the 


1 36  Washington 


&' 


flames  the  Departments  of  State  and  War,  and 
private  buildings.  But  nature,  as  if  protesting 
against  the  outrage,  came  to  the  rescue  with  a 
cyclone  that  drove  the  enemy  to  seek  shelter. 

Panic  seized  the  combatants.  On  the 
Washington  side,  General  Ross,  perceiving 
Americans  on  the  Virginia  shore,  set  fire  to  the 
great  bridge  spanning  the  Potomac.  On  the 
\^ircrinia  side,  Americans,  believinof  the  British 
were  about  to  cross,  simultaneously  applied  the 
torch.  WHiile  the  two  sheets  of  flame  rushed 
together,  the  British  .  army  left  the  ruined 
capital. 

Sentiment  in  England  was  divided  over  the 
destruction  of  Washington.  "  Willingly,"  said 
the  London  Statesvian,  "  would  we  throw  a  veil 
of  oblivion  over  the  transactions  of  our  buc- 
caneers at  Washington.  The  Cossacks  spared 
Paris,  but  we  spared  not  the  capital  of  America." 

Other  British  authorities  justified  the  ruin 
as  a  reprisal  for  the  burning  and  destruction 
of  York,  the  capital  of  Upper  Canada,  though 
that  unwarranted  act  was  the  work  of  soldiers 
acting  without  authority,  and  had  been  gener- 
ally condemned  In  America  and  publicly  disa- 
vowed by  General  Dearborn,  who  commanded 
the  expedition. 


Washington 


^Z7 


The  preparations  for  rebuilding  the  city 
were  begun  before  the  smoldering  ruins  had 
ceased  to  glow.  The  designs  of  the  Capitol 
and    other  public    buildings    were    somewhat 


THE  "  OCTAGON    HOUSE"    USED    BY    PRESIDENT   AND    MRS.    MADISON 
DURING  T.  "^    REBUILDING   OF   THE   WHITE    HOUSE   IN    1814. 

altered,  but  the  White  House,  under  the  su- 
pervision of  Hdban,  the  original  architect,  was 
reared  on  the  old  walls — almost  a  replica  of  the 
former  mansion.  Although  the  reconstruction 
was  begun  immediately,  there  was  a  continua- 
tion of  the  old  difficulties.  The  question  of 
removing  the  capital  again  became  an  issue, 


138  Washington 

and  continually  hampered  the  work  of  rebuild- 
ing-. However,  the  old  buildings  were  slowl)- 
replaced,  new  ones  were  constructed,  and  the 
Government  was  soon  comfortably  housed. 
But  the  city  itself  developed  with  woful 
languor.  The  few  attempts  to  beautify  it 
failed.  By  i860,  there  were  but  two  or  three 
miles  of  poorly  constructed  pavements.  Most 
of  the  streets  were  worse  than  country  roads. 
In  summer  the  dust  rose  in  clouds  and  blinded 
and  choked  those  who  ventured  forth,  while  in 
winter  the  mud  was  so  deep  that  at  times  the 
streets  were  well-nigh  impassable.  Until  1862 
there  were  no  street  railways. 

Charles  Dickens,  who  was  a  visitor  to  Wash- 
ington during  its  period  of  struggle  and  recon- 
struction, drew  this  startling  picture  of  the 
capital : 

"  Take  the  worst  parts  of  the  City  Road  and  Penton- 
ville,  or  the  straggling  outskirts  of  Paris,  where  the  houses 
are  smallest,  preserving  all  their  oddities,  but  especially 
the  small  shops  and  dwellings,  occupied  in  Pentonville 
(but  not  in  Washington)  by  furniture-brokers,  keepers  of 
poor  eating-houses,  and  fanciers  of  birds.  Burn  the 
whole  down  ;  build  it  up  again  in  wood  and  plaster  ; 
widen  it  a  little  ;  throw  in  part  of  St.  John's  Wood  ;  put 
green  blinds  outside  all  the  private  houses,  with  a  red 
curtain  and  a  white  one  in  every  window  ;  plough  up  all 


GRAND   STAIRCASE    IN    THE    HALL   OF   THE    CONGRESSIONAL    LIBRARY. 


139 


I40  Washington 

the  roads  ;  plant  a  great  deal  of  coarse  turf  in  every 
place  where  it  ought  not  to  be  ;  erect  three  handsome 
buildings  in  stone  and  marble,  anywhere,  but  the  more 
entirely  out  of  everybody's  way  the  better  ;  call  one  the 
Post  Office,  one  the  Patent  Office,  and  one  the  Treasury  ; 
make  it  scorching  hot  in  the  morning  and  freezing  cold 
in  the  afternoon,  with  an  occasional  tornado  of  wind  and 
dust  ;  leave  a  brick-field  without  the  bricks  in  all  cen- 
tral places  where  a  street  may  naturally  be  expected  ; 
and  that's  Washington." 

As  there  were  few  attractions  to  tempt  the 
wealthy,  plain  and  inexpensive  dwellings  were 
mostly  in  evidence.  During  the  sessions  the 
members  of  Congress  could  hardly  find  suit- 
able quarters,  since  the  inns  and  hotels,  with 
few  exceptions,  were  of  such  a  character  that 
they  brought  forth  vilification  from  those  who 
were  compelled  to  live  in  them.  Boarding- 
houses  were  somewhat  better.  An  old  direc- 
tory shows  that  in  1834  Senators  Daniel 
Webster,  John  Tyler,  John  C.  Calhoun,  Henry 
Clay  ;  Representatives  John  Ouincy  Adams, 
Franklin  Pierce,  James  K.  Polk  and  many 
other  well-known  men  of  the  time  sought 
homes  with  private  families  or  in  semi-public 
boarding-houses.  The  modern  method  of  num- 
bering houses  was  not  then  used,  and  we  find 
addresses  given  as  follows:  Henry  Clay,  "at 


Washington  141 

Mrs.  Ditty's,  C  Street  near  the  corner  of  Four- 
and-a-half";  Nathaniel  Silsbee  and  Daniel 
Webster,  "  Boarding-house  of  Mrs.  Bayliss, 
opposite  Central  Market." 

The  Civil  War  added  the  final  touch  to  the 
national  significance  of  the  capital.  From  the 
straggling  city  of  seventy  thousand  inhabitants, 
those  stirring  times  transformed  it  into  a  vast 
military  post  of  two  hundred  and  fifty  thousand. 
In  appearance  the  city  resembled  an  extensive 
military  camp  and  hospital.  Yet  when  the  foe 
did  come  the  city  was  in  but  poor  condition  to 
withstand  attack.  In  the  summer  of  1864, 
General  Jubal  Early  was  sent  north  to  attack 
Washington,  and,  if  possible,  to  divert  Grant 
from  Richmond.  General  Lew  Wallace  was 
then  in  command  of  the  Middle  Division, 
which  included  Washington.  Home  Guard, 
crippled  soldiers,  and  Department  clerks  were 
mustered  in  ;  but  in  all  there  were  not  more 
than  thirty-five  hundred  men.  General  Early 
had  by  his  own  account  ten  thousand  picked 
veterans,  including  nine  field  batteries  with 
forty  guns.  At  Monocacy,  thirty  miles  from 
Washington,  after  a  brave  contest,  the  Union 
forces  retreated  in  good  order.  At  night. 
Early  camped  within  ten  miles  of  the  capital ; 


142  Washington 


i5' 


But  Wallace  had  delayed  him  long  enough 
to  enable  Grant  to  send  a  part  of  the  Sixth 
and  Nineteenth  corps,  and  Washington  was 
saved. 

Meanwhile,  work  on  the  public  buildings 
went  steadily  forward.  During  the  war  the 
dome  of  the  Capitol  was  raised,  and  the  Treas- 
ury and  Patent  Office  buildings  were  almost 
completed.  In  1863,  the  statue  of  Freedom 
was  placed  upon  the  dome  with  imposing  cer- 
emony, accompanied  by  the  salutes  of  guns  of 
the  surrounding  forts.  The  enormous  military 
population  during  the  war  brought  greatly  in- 
creased responsibilities  to  the  city,  and  a  bet- 
ter realization  of  its  importance  to  the  nation. 
From  i860  to  1870,  more  noteworthy  and  sub- 
stantial improvements  were  made  than  had 
been  before  undertaken  in  the  whole  history 
of  the  city,  and  the  population  in  this  single 
decade  increased  from  seventy  thousand  to 
I  20,000. 

With  the  return  of  peace  the  habitual  sloth- 
fulness  returned,  and  the  old  do-nothing  policy 
seemed  about  to  be  resumed.  But  there  were 
a  few  energetic  citizens  in  whom  the  short 
period  of  progressiveness  had  instilled  an  un- 
quenchable desire  for  a  better  order  of  things, 


M 


144  Washington 

and  by  their  untiring  energy  they  prevented  a 
recurrence  of  the  former  stagnation. 

One  man  in  particular  seems  to  have  been 
inspired  with  a  resistless  ambition  for  the  city's 
salvation.  Around  this  person — Alexander  R. 
Shepherd — the  little  body  of  reformers  rallied 
their  forces. 

A  territorial  form,  with  a  trovernor,  lecrisla- 
ture  and  delegate  to  Congress,  was  created  for 
the  District.  A  Board  of  Public  Works,  ap- 
pointed by  the  President  with  the  approval  of 
the  Senate,  was  created  to  undertake  the  re- 
modelling of  the  city.  Subsequently  this 
Board  became  the  pivot  around  which  the  rest 
of  the  municipal  machinery  revolved.  Shep- 
herd was  appointed  Governor,  and  under  his 
guidance  the  Board  immediately  began  its 
difficult  and  thankless  task. 

The  changes  which  the  Board  wrought  in  the 
city  were  stupendous.  The  result  is  Washing- 
ton as  it  is  known  to-day.  The  enormous  ex- 
pense entailed  by  the  great  reconstruction 
created  an  opposition  which  forced  Congress 
to  appoint  committees  of  investigation.  The 
extent  of  the  Board's  operations  are  best  illus- 
trated by  the  enlargement  of  the  District's 
debt.       The   debt   of    the   territory,    which    in 


^        ^7  ft?  -:;  I  *  w  a»  ■  ^  I  ^    rvi 


ROTUNDA   OF   THE   CONGRESSIONAL   LIBRARY,    WASHINGTON. 


145. 


146  Washington 

1 87 1  was  but  three  milHons,  had  risen  in  1875 
to  twenty  milHons,  and  of  this  "  astounding  in- 
crease only  the  original  loan  of  four  millions 
was  submitted  to  the  vote  of  the  people,  and 
this,  at  the  time  it  was  voted  on,  was  under- 
stood to  include  all  the  main  improvements 
necessary  for  remodelling  the  city." 

Shepherd,  whose  master  mind  had  directed 
the  whole  undertaking,  finally  left  the  city. 
When,  a  few  years  later,  he  returned  on  a  visit 
from  Mexico,  his  advent  was  celebrated  by  the 
citizens  of  the  new  and  beautified  capital  by 
demonstrations  of  welcome  so  sincere  and 
genuine  as  to  atone  for  the  former  lack  of 
appreciation, 

Washington  to-day  is  richer  in  historic  mem- 
ories than  any  other  city  on  the  continent. 
To  the  literary  worker  and  historian  it  is  a 
boundless  treasure-house.  Standing  on  the 
hills  of  Anacostia,  and  musing  on  the  story  of 
Powhatan's  vanished  capital,  one  may  read  in 
the  surrounding  spires  and  domes  and  monu- 
ments of  the  city  the  eventful  story  of  Anglo- 
Saxon  triumph  in  the  Western  Hemisphere. 
One  smiles  now  at  the  satire  of  the  poet 
Moore ;  for  the  morasses  have  indeed  be- 
come parks,  and   imposing  shrines  have  been 


Washington  ^47 


'i5 


built  to  commemorate  heroes  that  were  then 
unborn.  In  what  was  once  the  wilderness  of 
'•  magnificent  distances  "  are  the  palatial  houses 
in  brick  and  granite  of  men  and  women  cele- 
brated in  letters,  in  art  and  in  public  life.  In 
the  galleries  of  the  Capitol  will  be  found  the 
portraits  and  memorials  of  America's  illustrious 
dead.  In  the  State  Department  is  to  be  seen 
the  faded  original  of  the  Declaration  of  Inde- 
pendence. 

The  city  that  Washington  founded  has  be- 
come one  of  venerable  memories  and  matchless 
triumphs. 

From  the  "  Rome "  of  Francis  Pope  the 
visitor  looks  down  Pennsylvania  Avenue,  the 
Via  Sacra  of  the  new  world,  whereon  the  men 
most  illustrious  in  the  annals  of  the  Republic 
have  walked  and  ridden  to  their  public  offices, 
and  along  whose  historic  thoroughfares  the 
heroes  of  great  wars  have  enjoyed  their  tri- 
umphs. Here  Lafayette  was  received  with 
joyous  welcome  when,  in  1824,  he  returned  to 
measure  the  majestic  growth  of  the  Republic 
during  the  fifty  years  that  had  passed  since  he 
and  Washington  were  comrades  in  the  fight  for 
freedom.  As,  standing  on  the  superb  terraces 
on  the  west  front  of  the  Capitol,  one  views  the 


148  Washington 

monument,  the  sacred  hills  of  Arlington,  the 
Potomac  winding  towards  Alexandria,  which 
Adams  predicted  would  become  the  continent's 
metropolis  and  greatest  export  city,  the  impos- 
ing declivities  of  old  Georgetown,  at  whose  base 
were  once  anchored  merchant  ships  from  foreign 
ports,  there  passes  before  the  mind  a  vivid  pano- 
rama of  the  history  of  the  American  people. 
Beauty  and  majesty  have  obliterated  the  infant 
city  of  a  hundred  years  ago.  The  achievements 
of  science  have  mocked  many  of  the  ancient 
prophecies.  The  canal,  starting  at  Georgetown, 
which  was  to  have  carried  the  deliberations  of 
Congress  to  the  Western  world,  knows  no  such 
use,  and  the  ships  that  were  to  crowd  the 
Potomac  are  content  to  moor  at  railway  ter- 
mini along  the  Atlantic  coast. 

But  although  applied  science  has  confounded 
the  wisdom  of  a  hundred  years  ago,  the  hopes 
and  dreams  of  the  founder  of  the  capital  have 
been  realized.  In  1798,  before  the  Govern- 
ment moved  to  the  new  city,  Washington 
wrote  concerning  the  capital : 

"  A  century  hence,  if  this  country  keeps 
united,  it  will  produce  a  city,  though  not  so 
large  as  London,  yet  of  a  magnitude  inferior 
to  few  others  in  Europe." 


WASHINGTON     MU.NUiViLNT. 
LOOKING    ACROSS     THE     "  FLATS." 


i=;o 


Washington 


Had  Washington  looked  down  the  century 
and  caught  the  gleam  of  the  gigantic  shaft  that 
attests  his  glory,  and  the  golden  dome  of  the 
Congressional  Library,  the  most  superb  tem- 
ple ever  reared  to  literature,  or  in  an  illumined 
moment  beheld  the  Goddess  of  Liberty  stand- 
ing between  Heaven  and  earth  and  symboliz- 
ing  freedom  for  seventy-five  millions  of  people, 
he  could  not  have  written  with  loftier  faith  in 
the  destiny  of  the  Republic. 

Washington  is  no  longer  the  city  of  mag- 
nificent intentions  ;  it  is  Washington  the  Mag- 
nificent. 


RICHMOND  ON  THE  JAMES 

By  WILLIAM  WIRT  HENRY 

"  And  in  regions  far 

Such  heroes  bring  ye  forth 
As  those  from  whom  we  come, 
And  plant  our  name 
Under  that  star 
Not  known  to  our  North." 


Drayton. 


ON  the  nth  of  April,  1606,  a  patent  was 
issued  by  James  I.  of  England  to  Sir 
Thomas  Gates,  Sir  George  Somers  and  others 
for  the  establishment  of  a  colony  in  Vir- 
ginia. The  charter  prescribed  that  it  was 
to  be  managed  by  a  council  of  thirteen  per- 
sons, under  the  direction  of  a  council  of  thirteen 
in  England.  On  December  the  19th  of  that 
year,  one  hundred  and  nine  years  after  the 
discovery  of  North  America  by  Cabot,  three 
small  vessels,  the  Stcsaii  Constant,  the  God 
Speed  and  the  Discovery,  sailed  for  the   New 


151 


152  Richmond  on  the  James 

World,  bearing-  one  hundred  and  twelve  pas- 
sengers and  a  crew  of  thirty-nine  men. 

They  encountered  many  perils  by  sea,  hav- 
ing bad  weather  and  losing  their  reckoning, 
but  the  26th  of  April,  1607,  brought  them  to 
the  shores  of  Chesapeake  Bay,  and  the)'  soon 
entered  a  noble  stream  called  by  the  natives 
the  "  Powhatan,"  but  renamed  by  them  the 
James,  i.n  honor  of  their  King.  On  the  13th 
of  May,  they  landed  on  a  spot  which  seemed 
suitable  for  a  settlement,  and  called  the  place 
Jamestown.  The  colony  previously  planted 
at  Roanoke  Island  by  Sir  Walter  Raleigh 
having  perished,  this  was  the  beginning  of  the 
permanent  Anglo-Saxon  occupation  of  North 
America.  From  it  has  developed  English 
possession  of  the  continent  with  free  insti- 
tutions based  upon  English  representative 
government. 

In  1 61 9,  a  General  Assembly  was  held,  which 
was  the  first  legislative  body  elected  by  the 
people  to  convene  this  side  of  the  Atlantic. 
It  was  an  Enarlish  acorn  a-erminatinor  in  Amer- 
ican  soil,  and  from  it  has  sprung  the  tree  of 
liberty  which  has  filled  the  continent.  Among 
the  colonists  w^ho  landed  at  Jamestown,  was 
the  celebrated  Captain  John  Smith,  who  was 


Richmond  on  the  James  153 


destined  later  to  be  snatched  from  the  jaws  of 
death  by  the  lovely  Indian  princess,  Pocahon- 
tas,     From  the  story  of  his  life,  told  by  him- 


GRAVE  OF  POWHATAN  ON  THE  JAMES. 

self,  and  the  Rev.  Samuel  Purchas  in  his 
Pilgrims,  we  learn  that  he  had  already  been 
the  hero  of  many  adventures.  He  had  been 
robbed,    had    encountered    pirates,    and    had 


15+  Richmond  on  the  James 

been  shipwrecked  at  sea.  He  had  slain  three 
Turks  in  singrle  combat  while  serving  under 
Sigismundus  Bathori,  the  Prince  of  Transyl- 
vania. He  had  been  beloved  by  the  fair 
Turkish  lady,  Tragabigzanda,  besides  having 
had  many  other  affaires  du  cauir — notably 
one  with  the  good  lady  Calamata  of  Russia. 

Nine  days  after  the  landing  of  the  colony  at 
Jamestown,  and  thirteen  years  before  the  land- 
ing of  the  Pilgrim  Fathers  at  Plymouth,  Cap- 
tain Newport,  with  Smith  and  a  party  of  men, 
ascended  the  James  River,  and  discovered  the 
site  of  the  city  of  Richmond.  In  Smith's 
True  Relation,  printed  in  London  in  1608,  he 
says  : 

"  The  two  and  twenty  day  of  April  [or  rather  May, 
1607]  Captain  Newport  and  myselfe  with  diuers  others  to 
the  number  of  twenty-two  persons,  set  forward  to  discouer 
the  Riuer  some  fiftie  or  sixtie  miles.  .  .  .  In  the  mid- 
way, staying  to  refresh  ourselues  in  a  little  He  foure  or 
fiue  savages  came  vnto  vs  which  described  vnto  vs  the 
course  of  the  Riuer,  and  after,  in  our  journey,  they  often 
met  vs,  trading  with  vs  for  such  provision  as  wee  had, 
and  arriuing  at  Arsatecke,  hee  whom  wee  supposed  to  bee 
the  Chiefe  King  of  all  the  rest,  moste  kindely  enter- 
tained vs,  giuing  vs  a  guide  to  go  with  vs  vp  the  riuer 
Powhatan,  of  which  place  their  Great  Emperor  taketh 
his  name,  where  he  they  honored  for  King  used  vs 
kindlly. 


Richmond  on  the  James  155 

''  But  to  finish  this  discouerie,  we  passed  on  further, 
where  within  an  ile  [a  mile]  we  were  intercepted  with 
great  craggy  stones  in  the  midst  of  the  river,  where  the 
water  falleth  so  rudely  and  with  such  violence,  as  not 
any  boat  can  possibly  passe,  and  so  broad  disperseth 
the  streame  as  there  is  not  past  fiue  or  sixe  foote  at  low 
water,  and  to  the  shore  scarce  passage  with  a  barge." 

This  was  the  first  view  had  by  Enghshmen  of 
the  situation  where  the  city  of  Richmond  was 
located. 

In  September,  1609,  when  Smith  was  presi- 
dent, he  set  out  to  find  a  more  favorable  spot 
for  the  colony  than  marshy  Jamestown.  He 
sailed  again  to  the  Indian  village  Powhatan, 
at  the  falls  of  the  river,  and  bought  of  the 
natives  some  land  near  the  present  site  of 
Richmond,  where  the  landscape  presented  such 
charming  features  that  he  called  the  place 
"  None  Such."  On  his  way  home  he  was 
wounded  by  the  explosion  of  a  bag  of  gun- 
powder, and  the  next  month  he  left  the  colony 
and  sailed  for  England,  leaving  only  a  small 
settlement  to  occupy  the  site  he  had  purchased. 
In  1645,  "  Fforte  Charles  "  was  built  below  the 
falls  of  the  James,  but  no  permanent  settle- 
ment was  effected.  In  1675,  Colonel  William 
Byrd  was  granted  7351  acres  of  land  beginning 


156  Richmond  on  the  James 

at  the  mouth  of  Shockoc's  Creek,  which  joins 
the  river  at  the  fahs,  and  aij^ain,  in  1687,  he  had 
a  patent  of  956  acres  on  the  east  side  of  the 
creek,  extending  up  and  down  the  hne  of  the 
James  River.  On  a  part  of  these  two  tracts 
the  present  city  of  Richmond  was  founded 
some  years  later  by  his  son,  Colonel  William 
Evelyn  Byrd,  who  gives  this  account  in  his 
journal  : 

"Sept.  19th,  1733.  When  we  got  home  we  laid  the 
foundation  of  two  large  cities, — One  at  Schocco's,  to 
be  called  Richmond,  and  the  other  at  the  Point  of 
Appamattuck  River  to  be  nam'd  Petersburgh.  These 
Major  Mayo  offered  to  lay  out  into  lots  without  fee  or 
reward.  The  truth  of  it  is  these  two  ])laces  being  the 
uppermost  landing  of  James  and  Appamattuck  Rivers, 
are  naturally  intended  for  Marts  where  the  traffick  of  the 
outer  inhabitants  must  Center.  Thus  we  did  not  build 
Castles  only,  but  also  citys  in  the  air." 

He  also  advertised  in  the  Virginia  Gazette 
of  April,  1737,  "that  on  the  north  side  of 
James  River,  near  the  uppermost  landing  and 
a  little  below  the  falls,  is  lately  built  by  Major 
Mayo  a  town  called  Richmond  with  streets  sixty 
feet  wide  in  a  pleasant  and  healthy  situation, 
and  well  supplied  with  springs  of  good  Avater." 

The  founder  of  Richmond  was  one  of  the 


COLONEL  WILLIAM  EVELYN  BYRD. 

FRO VI  A  PAINTING  BY  SIR  GODFREY  KNELLER. 


157 


15^  Richmond  on  the  James 

worthiest  and  most  intellectual  men  in  the 
Colony  of  Virginia.  His  portrait,  by  Sir 
Godfrey  Kneller,  shows  a  face  of  remarkable 
beauty,  framed  in  the  curls  of  a  flowing  peruke 
of  the  time  of  Queen  Anne.  He  was  noted 
as  "  the  Great  Virginia  wit,"  and  his  writings 
are  among  the  most  valuable  that  have  de- 
scended to  us  from  that  era.  His  library  was 
the  largest  that  had  ever  been  brought  over  to 
the  New  World.  A  catalofjue  of  it,  in  folio,  is 
now  in  possession  of  the  Franklin  Library  in 
Philadelphia.  He  was  the  father  of  the  beau- 
tiful Evelyn  Byrd,  whose  death  of  a  broken 
heart  because  her  father  refused  to  give  his 
consent  to  her  marriage  with  her  lover — said  to 
have  been  Lord  Peterborough — has  furnished 
a  theme  for  poet  and  novelist.  He  was  buried 
at  his  family  estate,  Westover,  and  his  tomb- 
stone, in  the  old  flower  garden  there,  not  only 
gives  a  history  of  his  life,  but  tells  us  also  of 
several  of  his  noble  and  illustrious  friends  and 
their  good  qualities. 

Richmond  was  established  as  a  town  by  the 
Assembly  of  Virginia  in  1742.  Originally  built 
on  seven  hills,  it  has  been  called  the  "  Modern 
Rome,"  and  one  of  Richmond's  gifted  daugh- 
ters once  wrote  : 


Richmond  on  the  James  159 

"  O  Richmond  I   Richmond  !  Richmond  ! 
Upon  thy  seven  liills 
Like  one  of  old,  we  wot  of  well 

Thy  fame  the  wide  world  fills." 

In  1842,  when  Dickens  visited  Richmond,  it 
aheady  covered  yet  another  hill,  and  he  wrote 
of  it  as 

"  delightfully  situated  on  eight  hills  overhanging  James 
River,  a  sparkling  stream  studded  here  and  there  with 
bright  islands,  or  brawling  over  broken  rocks.  There 
are  pretty  villas  and  cheerful  houses  on  its  streets,  and 
nature  smiles  upon  the  country  'round." 

The  oldest  house  in  Richmond,  the  "Old 
Stone  House,"  situated  on  Main  Street,  was 
built  by  Jacob  Ege  in  1737,  and  is  now  used 
as  a  museum  filled  with  relics  and  curiosities. 

St.  John's  Episcopal  Church,  which  was  built 
in  I  740,  is  in  a  state  of  excellent  preservation, 
and  religious  services  are  held  in  it  as  they 
were  in  the  days  before  the  Revolution.  It 
was  built  under  the  superintendence  of  Richard 
Randolph  of  Curls  Neck,  the  son  of  William 
Randolph  of  Turkey  Island  and  Jane  Boiling, 
the  great-great-granddaughter  of  Pocahontas. 
In  its  graveyard  are  many  quaint  old  tomb- 
stones— the  oldest,   that  of    the   Rev.   Robert 


i6o  Richmond  on  the  James 


Rose,  is  dated  1751.  The  learned  and  ac- 
complished George  Wythe,  one  of  the  signers 
of  the  Declaration  of  Independence,  and  many 
other  famous  sons  of  Virginia  lie  buried  in  the 
graveyard.     The  most  interesting  event  in  the 


OLD  STONE   HOUSE,   BUILT   IN   1737. 


history  of  the  Church,  and  one  with  which  its 
.name  will  be  forever  linked,  was  the  meeting 
within  its  walls  of  the  famous  Virginia  Con- 
vention of  March  20,  1775.  A  few  months 
after  the  adjournment  of  the  first  Continental 
Coneress,  this  convention  met  to  hear  a  re- 
port  of  its  proceedings,  and  to  deliberate  on 
the    political    situation.      The    bitter  hostility 


Richmond  on  the  James  i6i 

to  the  patriots  on  the  part  of  Lord  Dun- 
more  made  it  unsafe  for  them  to  meet  in 
WilHamsburg,  the  capital  of  the  colony,  and 
the  importance  and  sacredness  of  the  cause 
made  it  appropriate  to  meet  in  the  sanctuary 
of  God,  to  whom  they  humbly  looked  for 
guidance  on  their  sea  of  troubles.  The 
vestry  recognized  this,  and  offered  to  the  con- 
vention this,  the  largest  building  in  the  town. 
It  was  during  the  session  of  this  convention 
that  Patrick  Henry  made  his  famous  speech, 
in  which  he  proclaimed  the  folly  of  lono-er  ex- 
pecting peace,  and  the  necessity  of  arming  for 
immediate  war,  ending  with  the  words  :  "Is 
life  so  dear,  or  peace  so  sweet,  as  to  be  pur- 
chased at  the  price  of  chains  and  slavery  ? 
Forbid  it,  Almighty  God  !  I  know  not  what 
course  others  may  take,  but  as  for  me,  give  me 
liberty  or  give  me  death. "  The  very  spot  where 
the  orator  stood  is  pointed  out. 

Some  six  years  later,  January  6,  1781,  Bene- 
dict Arnold,  the  traitor,  entered  the  city  at  the 
head  of  nine  hundred  British  soldiers.  That 
night  part  of  his  troops  were  quartered  in  the 
old  church,  desecrating  it  as  far  as  they  were 
able. 

In  1779,  the  Legislature  ordered  the  removal 


1 62  Richmond  on  the  James 

of  the;  seat  of  irovernment  from  Williamsburi; 
to  Richmond,  then  only  a  collection  of  dis- 
jointed villages  placed  amid  the  ragged  ground 
at  the  falls  of  the  James.  Virginia  had  been 
settled  largely  by  sons  of  country  gentlemen, 
who  brought  from  their  far-off  homes  the  love 
of  country  life.  Her  citizens  preferred  that 
life,  and  the  title  "  Countr\-  Gentlemen  "  was 
the  most  desired.  In  consequence  there  were 
no  large  cities  in  the  State. 

In  I  781,  the  Marquis  Chastellux,  who  served 
with  honor  in  the  French  army,  thus  described 
the  city  : 

"  Though  Richmond  be  already  an  old  town  and  well 
situated  for  trade,  being  built  on  the  spot  where  the 
James  River  begins  to  be  navigable,  that  is,  just  below 
the  rapids.  It  was  before  the  war  one  of  the  least  con- 
siderable in  Virginia,  where  they  are  all  in  general  very 
small,  but  the  seat  of  the  government  being  removed 
from  ^^''iIliamsburg  it  is  become  a  real  capital,  and  is 
augmenting  every  day." 

In  1782,  Richmond  was  incorporated  as  a 
city,  and  three  years  later  the  foundations  of 
the  Capitol  were  laid.  Especially  beautiful  in 
the  summer  months,  when  the  grass  is  as  green 
as  emerald  and  the  noble  trees  give  grateful 
shade,  is  the  Capitol  Square.      Squirrels  play 


i64  Richmond  on  the  James 

as  if  at  home  about  the  grounds,  much  to  the 
dehght  of  the  children.  The  square,  with  its 
area  of  about  twelve  acres,  includes  the  lot 
on  which  the  Executive  mansion  stands,  and 
is  supposed  to  be  a  part  of  Nathaniel  Bacon's 
plantation,  where  his  overseer  was  murdered 
by  the  Indians,  whose  punishment  by  him, 
without  permission  of  the  Governor,  Sir  Wil- 
liam Berkeley,  was  the  beginning  of  the  famous 
Bacon's  rebellion. 

Of  the  Capitol  itself,  Thomas  Jefferson 
wrote  : 

"  I  was  written  to  in  1785,  being  then  in  Paris,  by 
Directors  appointed  to  superintend  the  building  of  a 
Capitol    in   Richmond,  to    advise    them    as    to    a   plan. 

Thinking  it  a  favorable  opportunity  of  introducing  into 
the  State  an  example  of  the  classic  style  of  antiquity, 
and  the  Maison  Quarree  of  Xismes,  an  ancient  Roman 
Temple,  being  considered  as  the  most  perfect  model 
existing  of  what  may  be  called  Cubic  architecture,  I 
applied  to  M.  Clerissault,  who  had  published  drawings 
of  the  antiquities  at  Nismes  to  have  me  a  model  of  the 
building  made  in  stucco,  only  changing  the  order  from 
the  Corinthian  to  Ionic  on  account  of  the  difficulty  of 
Corinthian  Capitals." 

The  model  sent  by  Jefferson  is  still  preserved, 
and  looks  like  a  miniature  of  the  Capitol  with 


Richmond  on  the  James  165 

very  slight  variations.     Jefferson   says   of    it: 
"  Here  I  am  a-azing- whole  hours  at  the  Maison 

o  o 

Ouarree  like  a  lover  at  his  mistress." 

The  corner-stone  was  laid  in  1785,  and  on 
October  19,  1789,  eight  years  to  the  day  after 
the  surrender  of  Lord  Cornwallis  at  Yorktown, 
the  Leeislature  convened  in  it. 

The  Capitol  is  full  of  memories  of  bygone 
days.  Here  were  debated  and  adopted  the 
famous  resolutions  of  1 798-99,  drafted  by 
James  Madison  as  the  true  interpretation  of 
the  Federal  compact.  Here  sat  the  conven- 
tion of  1829-30,  of  which  Marshall,  Madison, 
Monroe  and  John  Randolph  of  Roanoke  were 
members,  the  convention  of  185 1,  which  en- 
larged the  right  of  suffrage  and,  ten  years 
later,  the  body  which  adopted  the  Act  of 
Secession.  Here,  in  1862,  met  the  congress 
of  the  Confederate  States  of  America,  which 
sat  until  April,  1865,  when  it  adjourned — 
"  Notsme  die  indeed,  yet  never  to  meet  again." 
In  the  rotunda  of  the  Capitol  is  the  most 
valuable  marble  in  America,  Houdon's  statue 
of  Washington,  modelled  from  life.  Virginia 
had  voted  this  statue  to  him  May  15,  1784,  and 
Madison  penned  the  inscription  which  appears 
on  the  pedestal : 


1 66  Richmond  on  the  James 

"  The  (ieneral  Assembly  of  the  Commonwealth  of 
\'irginia  have  caused  tliis  statue  to  be  erected  as  a  monu- 
ment of  affection  and  gratitude  to  George  Washington, 
who  uniting  to  the  endowments  of  the  hero,  the  virtues 
of  the  patriot,  and  exercising  both  in  establishing  the 
liberties  of  his  country,  has  rendered  his  name  dear  to 
his  fellow  citizens,  and  given  to  the  world  an  immortal 
example  of  true  glory." 

Mr.  Jefferson,  being  then  in  Paris,  engaged 
Houdon  to  come  to  Virginia  to  make  the 
statue,  saying  of  him  :  "He  is  without  rival- 
ship,  the  first  statuary  of  his  age,  as  pr'>of  of 
which  he  receives  orders  from  every  other 
country  for  things  intended  to  be  capital." 

It  is  a  tradition  that  Houdon  spent  several 
days  at  Mount  Vernon  before  he  selected  the 
attitude  for  the  statue.  One  day  Washington 
was  summoned  to  inspect  a  pair  of  horses 
offered  for  sale.  He  asked  their  price,  and  was 
told  "  a  thousand  dollars."  At  once  he  drew 
himself  up,  with  an  expression  of  indignation 
at  the  price,  and  Houdon,  watching  him,  ex- 
claimed, "  Ah,  I  'ave  him,  I  'ave  him  !  "  and 
immediately  set  to  work  to  make  the  pose 
immortal. 

In  the  Capitol  grounds  stands  Crawford's 
famous  equestrian  statue  of  the  great  hero. 

Thomas    Crawford,    father    of    F.     Marion 


1 68  Richmond  on  the  James 

Crawford,  the  distinguished  novelist  of  our  day, 
had  received  an  order  from  the  State  of  Vir- 
ginia to  make  this  statue  of  Washington  and 
also  to  make  effigies  of  Thomas  Jefferson  and 
Patrick  Henry  to  stand  at  its  base.  He  had 
just  completed  his  work  when  he  was  afiflicted 
with  a  mortal  disease,  and  when  an  order 
came  to  add  the  figrures  of  Mason,  Marshall, 
Nelson  and  Lewis  he  was  unable  to  fill  it, 
and  the  monument  was  subsequently  com- 
pleted by  Randolph  Rogers.  The  statue  was 
unveiled  February  22,  1858,  the  one  hundred 
and  twenty-sixth  anniversary  of  Washington's 
birth,  and  a  proud  day  it  was  in  the  history  of 
Richmond.  Henry  A.  Wise,  Governor  of  the 
State,  presided  and  delivered  an  eloquent  ad- 
dress. Senator  R.  M.  T.  Hunter  was  the  ora- 
tor of  the  occasion,  and  John  R.  Thompson 
and  James  Barron  Hope,  who  were  then  the 
"  rose  and  expectancy  of  the  State,"  recited 
poems  prepared  by  them.  It  is  considered 
one  of  the  best  equestrian  statues  in  the 
world. 

A  fine  marble  statue  of  Henry  Clay,  exe- 
cuted by  Joel  T.  Hart  and  erected  by  the 
efforts  of  some  patriotic  ladies,  stands  near 
by.      Contemporaries  of  Mr.  Clay  pronounced 


Richmond  on  the  James  169 


it  lifelike.  Virginia  claims  Mr.  Clay  for  a 
son,  as  he  was  born  in  Hanover  County,  and 
did  not  move  to 
Kentucky  until 
he  reached  man- 
hood. 

On  the  Capi- 
tol grounds  is 
an  old  building 
known  as  the 
Bell  House 
which,  though 
erected  many 
years  previous, 
is  chiefly  inter- 
esting for  its  as- 
sociation  with 
the  Civil  War. 
The  bell  had 
been  purchased 
i  n  1 790,  when 
the  Directors  of 
Public  Buildings 
were  authorized 
to  "fit  up  a  suf- 

/  HENRY  CLAY. 

ticient     bell     lor 

the   use  of  the  Capitol."      Tradition   says  the 


ijo  Richmond  on  the  James 

bell  rang  an  alarm  at  the  time  of  the  "  Xat 
Turner  "  insurrection,  but  it  is  consecrated  to 
the  trying  times  of  1861  to  1865  as  is  no  other 
object  connected  with  the  Civil  War.  When 
its  well-known  peal  rang  out  three  quick  taps 
and  an  interval,  soldiers  and  citizens,  old  men 
and  young,  rushed  with  common  Impulse  to 
the  rendezvous,  with  hearts  and  hands  ready 
for  the  defence  of  the  city. 

There  is  also  on  the  grounds  a  statue  of  the 
great  soldier,  Thomas  J.  Jackson,  executed  by 
Foley,  the  celebrated  English  sculptor,  and 
presented  to  Virginia  by  some  of  his  English 
admirers.  Old  soldiers  say  of  this,  that  it  is 
the  best  likeness  extant  of  their  great  leader. 
"  Look  !  there  is  Jackson,  standing  like  a  stone 
wall,"  is  inscribed  on  the  pedestal. 

One  of  the  most  interesting  sites  in  the  city 
is  that  now  occupied  by  the  Monumental 
Church,  on  Broad  Street,  on  what  was  for- 
merly known  as  Academy  Square.  Here 
a  certain  Chevalier  Ouesnay  de  Beaurepaire 
erected  a  large  wooden  building  for  an  acad- 
emy of  fine  arts.  He  was  full  of  enthusiasm, 
and  visited  Paris  to  present  his  plan  to  the 
French  Academy,  which  body  gave  their  ap- 
proval, but  his  scheme  failed  and  the  building 


Richmond  on  the  James  171 

was  turned  into  a  theatre.  Here  assembled  in 
1 788  a  brilHant  coterie  of  statesmen  —  Mar- 
shall, Madison,  Mason,  Monroe,  Randolph, 
Henry,  Lee,  Wythe,  Pendleton  and  others, 
who  met  to  discuss  and  finally  ratify  the 
Constitution  of  the  United  States  as  framed 
in  Philadelphia. 

Twenty-three  years  afterwards  on  a  fatal 
December  eveningr  it  was  the  scene  of  a  dread- 
ful  disaster,  when  seventy-two  persons,  includ- 
ing the  Governor  of  the  State,  who  were 
attending  a  performance  at  the  theatre,  per- 
ished in  the  flames  which  destroyed  the  build- 
ing. The  portico  of  the  church  covers  the 
tombs  and  charred  remains  of  most  of  the  vic- 
tims of  the  fire,  and  a  monument  bears  their 
names. 

The  house  of  Chief  Justice  Marshall  stands 
on  the  street  named  in  his  honor.  It  was 
built  in  1795,  and  is  as  simple  and  unpreten- 
tious as  was  its  distinofuished  owner.  Still  in 
the  possession  of  his  descendants,  the  house 
has  not  been  remodelled  and  but  few  changes 
have  been  made  inside.  By  some  mischance, 
in  the  absence  of  Judge  Marshall,  the  house 
was  built  rear  side  front.  The  handsome  hall 
and    staircase,   with   their  carved   balusters  of 


172  Richmond  on  the  James 

cherry,  are  at  the  back,  opening  towards  the 
garden,  the  dining-room  looks  out  on  Marshall 
Street,  and  the  entrance  for  visitors  is  by  a 
small  door   on    the    side    street.      Here    lived 


THE   MARSHALL  HOUSE,   RICHMOND,  VIRGINIA. 

and  loved,  in  the  simple,  good  old  fashion, 
the  great  lawyer  and  his  lovely  wife.  Mar)- 
Willis  Ambler.  Their  married  life  was  a 
peaceful  idyl  lasting  forty-two  years.  Folded 
in  his  will  was  a  touching  tribute  to  his  wife, 
ending : 


Richmond  on  the  James  i  jz 

"  She  became  at  sixteen  a  most  devoted  wife.  All  my 
faults,  and  they  were  too  many,  could  never  weaken  this 
sentiment.  It  formed  a  part  of  her  existence.  Her 
judgment  was  so  sound  and  so  deep  that  I  often  relied 
upon  it  in  situations  of  some  perplexity.  I  do  not  recol- 
lect once  to  have  regretted  the  adoption  of  her  opinion. 
I  have  sometimes  regretted  its  rejection." 

Both  Washington  and  Lafayette  visited  the 
city  in  1784,  and  were  welcomed  by  the  citi- 
zens and  legislature  then  in  session,  who  ex- 
pressed their  appreciation  of  the  great  services 
they  had  rendered  the  country.  In  response 
to  an  address  made  upon  the  occasion  of  this 
visit,  Washington  said  :  "  That  this  growing 
city  may  enjoy  the  benefits  which  are  to  be  de- 
rived from  liberty,  independence  and  peace — 
that  it  may  improve  such  of  its  advantages 
as  a  bountiful  nature  has  bestowed,  and  that 
it  may  soon  be  ranked  first  in  the  Union  for 
population,  commerce  and  wealth,  is  my  sin- 
cere and  fervent  wish."  Lafayette  visited 
Richmond  again  in  1824.  Houdon  had  made 
a  bust  of  him,  which  Virgrinia  crave  to  France, 
and  a  copy  of  which  she  kept  in  the  rotunda 
of  the  Capitol.  By  chance,  just  before  his 
visit,  the  nose  was  broken  off,  and  there  was 
great  concern  lest  he  reach  the  city  before  it 


174  Richmond  on  the  James 

could  be  restored.  Happily,  howev^er,  the  nose 
was  finished  in  time. 

The  Swan  tavern,  still  preserved  on  Broad 
Street,  was  an  ancient  place  of  entertainment 
kept  by  Major  Moss,  who  was  said  to  be  "  full 
of  good  feeding,  breeding  and  fellowship." 
His  home  was  the  Lincoln's  Inn  or  Doctors' 
Commons  of  Richmond,  for  there  assembled 
in  term  times  the  non-resident  judges  and  law- 
yers. Though  of  unpretending  exterior,  the 
Swan  was  of  highest  repute  for  good  fare, 
good  wine  and  good  company.  An  annex  to 
the  Swan  was  the  house  where  Aaron  Burr 
was  kept  prisoner  during  his  trial  for  treason 
in  1807,  the  Federal  Court  having  then  no 
prison  under  its  control.  Chief  Justice  Mar- 
shall presided  at  the  trial,  and  the  Court  sat  in 
the  Hall  of  Delegates  in  the  Capitol. 

Edgar  Allan  Poe  spent  many  of  his  boyhood 
days  in  Richmond,  with  John  Allan,  a  rich 
merchant  of  Scotch  descent  who  adopted  him. 
Until  recently,  the  fine  old  residence  of  Mr. 
Allan  was  standing  on  Fifth  Street,  and  near 
by  was  the  residence  of  William  Wirt,  who 
loved  the  place  and  thus  writes  of  it  : 

"  I  never  met  with  such  an  assembhage  of  striking  and 
interesting  objects  as  here,  the  town  dispersed  over  hills 


Richmond  on  the  James  1 75 

of  various  shai)es,  the  river  descending  from  west  to  east, 
and  obstructed  by  a  multitude  of  small  islands,  clumps 
of  trees  and  myriads  of  rocks— the  same  river,  at  the 
lower  end  of  the  town,  bending  at  right  angles  to  the 
south  and  winding  many  miles  in  that  direction,  its  pol- 
ished surface  caught  here  and  there  by  the  eye,  but  more 
frequently  covered  from  the  view  by  trees,  among  which 
white  sails  exhibit  a  curious  and  interesting  spectacle  ; 
then  again,  on  the  opposite  side,  Manchester,  built  on  a 
hill,  which,  sloping  quickly  to  the  river,  opens  the  whole 
town  to  view,  interspersed  with  flourishing  poplars  and 
surrounded  to  a  great  distance  by  green  plains  and  stately 
Avoods, — all  these  objects  falling  at  once  under  the  eye 
constitute  by  far  the  most  finely  varied  and  most  ani- 
mated landscape  I  have  ever  seen." 


The  Valentine  Museum,  which  was  given  to 
the  city  by  one  of  its  most  valued  citizens,  the 
late  Mann  S.  Valentine,  contains  archaeological 
specimens  numbering  more  than  one  hundred 
thousand,  also  an  art  collection  and  a  number  of 
original  works  donated  by  his  brother,  Edward 
V.  Valentine,  Virginia's  talented  sculptor.  A 
short  walk  brlnors  you  to  the  studio  of  this 
artist,  where,  among  many  beautiful  and  in- 
teresting figures,  the  chief  interest  centres  in 
the  model  for  the  recumbent  statue  of  General 
Robert  E.  Lee,  the  marble  of  which  is  in  the 
annex  to  the  Episcopal  Church  in  Lexington. 


176  Richmond  on  the  James 

This  statue  has  won  for  Valentine  the  admira- 
tion and  love  of  the  people  of  the  South. 

At  once  the  capital  and  the  citadel  of  the 
Confederacy,  Richmond  was  the  objective 
point  of  assault  in  the  Civil  War,  and  the 
greatest  generalship  on  both  sides  was  dis- 
played in  its  attack  and  its  defence.  From 
May,  1862,  to  April,  1865,  it  may  be  said  to  have 
been  in  a  state  of  siege,  holding  out  steadily  and 
grandly  against  great  odds.  During  this 
period  it  is  said  that  fifteen  pitched  battles 
and  more  than  twenty  skirmishes  were  fought 
in  the  effort  to  capture  it.  When  its  defenders 
were  finally  obliged  to  leave  the  city  to  its  fate, 
they  set  on  fire  the  warehouses  to  prevent  the 
capture  of  the  tobacco  which  they  contained, 
burned  the  bridges  behind  them  as  the  last 
soldier  crossed  the  river,  and  left  the  business 
portion  smoldering  in  flames — a  barren  trophy 
to  the  victors.  It  is  in  consequence  of  this  that 
so  few  of  the  typical  old  buildings  remain  stand- 
ing, for  the  flames  leaped  from  house  to  house 
and  destroyed  many  old  landmarks.  The  city 
was  not  long  in  rising  from  its  ashes  and  taking 
on  new  life,  and  there  could  be  no  greater  con- 
trast than  that  between  the  city  of  1865  and 
the  Richmond  of  to-day.      Nevertheless  it  will 


17^  Richmond  on  the  James 

always  be  remembered  as  the  capital  of  the 
Lost  Cause,  and,  as  such,  it  will  be  invested 
with  a  pathetic  interest.  Its  suburbs,  attrac- 
tive as  they  are  from  their  natural  beauty,  de- 
rive their  chief  interest  from  havintj^  been  the 
scenes  of  the  conflict.  In  many  places  there 
remain  the  earthworks  thrown  up  for  the  de- 
fence of  the  city,  and  every  avenue  out  of 
the  city  for  miles  around  leads  to  battlefields. 
Many  monuments  mark  the  love  and  venera- 
tion of  the  people  for  the  heroes  of  the  war. 
Foremost  of  these  is  the  equestrian  statue  of 
General  Robert  E.  Lee  by  Mercie,  a  F'rench 
sculptor.  It  represents  the  great  general  riding 
slowly  down  the  line,  mounted  on  "  Traveller," 
his  well-known  war-horse.  It  is  located  in 
Lee  Circle,  one  of  the  most  beautiful  parts  of 
the  city.  A  monument,  the  corner-stone  of 
which  has  already  been  laid,  will  be  erected 
to  the  memory  of  Jefferson  Davis,  President  of 
the  Confederate  States.  His  residence  while 
occupying  that  office  is  a  building  imposing 
in  appearance,  with  grounds  beautifully  laid 
out,  and  adorned  with  fountains  and  flowers. 
It  is  known  as  the  "  White  House  of  the  Con- 
federacy," and  is  kept  in  admirable  condition 
by  a  band  of  devoted  women,  the  Confederate 


r.ri;:^  zsii/m^ 


^  m. 


tJL_. 


MONUMENT  TO  GENERAL  ROBERT  E.   LEE,   RICHMOND. 


179 


i8o  Richmond  on  the  James 

Literary  Memorial  Society.  The  residence 
occupied  by  General  Lee  and  his  family  is  in 
the  care  of  the  Virginia  Historical  Society, 
and  contains  the  extensive  library  of  books, 
manuscripts  and  publications  of  that  society. 


THE  WHITE  HOUSE  OF  THE  CONFEDERACY,   RICHMOND. 

A  favorite  drive  is  to  Hollywood,  silent  city 
of  the  dead,  which  nature  and  art  have  united 
to  beautify.  Here  sleep  many  of  Virginia's 
famous  men  ;  among  them,  Monroe  and  Tyler, 
Presidents  of  the  United  States,  Jefferson 
Davis,  President  of  the  Confederacy,  John  R. 
Thompson,  the  poet,  John   Randolph,  caustic 


Richmond  on  the  James  i8r 


Master  of  Roanoke,  and  Matthew  F.  Maury, 
"  Pathfinder  of  the  Seas."  A  beautiful  monu- 
ment of  granite,  pyramidal  in  form,  and  covered 
with  Virginia  creeper  and  ivy,  marks  the  graves 
of  twelve  hun- 
dred Confederate 
dead. 

The  Govern- 
ment has  lately 
finished  a  fine 
road,  leading 
from  Chimborazo 
Park  to  the  Na- 
tional Cemetery, 
where  lie  buried 
6547  of  the  Fed- 
eral soldiers  who 
fell  in  the  at- 
tempts to  capture 
the  city. 

Nature  has 
done  much  for 
the  city.  The  climate  is  pleasant  and  health- 
ful ;  trees  shade  and  flowers  beautify  the  resi- 
dences. The  river  glistens  as  it  flows  around 
wooded  islands  and  rushes  toward  the  sea  over 
craggy  rocks.    Numerous  lines  of  travel  centre 


MONUMENT  OVER   CONFEDERATE    DEAD 
AT   HOLLYWOOD. 


1 82  Richmond  on  the  James 

in  its  midst  and  there  is  a  growing  spirit  of  en- 
terprise among  its  citizens.  The  water-power 
is  very  fine,  and  besides  being  utiHzed  for  many 
manufactories,  is  about  to  be  used  for  the  ofener- 
ation  of  electricity  on  a  large  scale.  Richmond 
claims  the  honor  of  bein^f  amonc^  the  first,  if  not 
the  very  first  city,  to  be  lighted  with  gas.  A 
man  named  Henfrey  visited  the  city  earl\-  in 
the  present  century,  and  induced  some  of  the 
prominent  citizens  to  witness  experiments  made 
by  him  in  which  he  poured  fiame  instead  of 
steam  from  the  spout  of  a  tea-kettle.  Money 
was  raised  by  subscription  and  a  lighthouse 
was  built.  On  a  tower  forty  feet  high  was  a 
large  lantern  with  many  jets,  and  gas  was  gen- 
erated in  the  basement  and  conducted  by  a 
pipe  to  the  burners.  Not,  however,  until  many 
years  after  were  the  gas-works  erected,  and 
though  Henfrey's  light  was  short-lived,  his 
tower  remained  a  monument  of  the  enterprise 
of  the  citizens. 

The  people  of  Richmond  are  refined  and 
hospitable.  "It  is  the  merriest  place  and  the 
most  picturesque,  I  have  seen  in  America," 
wrote  Thackeray. 

The  city  is  filled  with  the  echoes  of  the  past. 
She  cherishes  tender  memories  of  brave  men 


Richmond  on  the  James  183 

and  gracious  women.  Rich  in  historic  interest, 
progressive  in  her  industries  and  in  education, 
Richmond  easily  takes  the  lead  in  the  State. 
Perhaps  it  is  not  too  much  to  say  that  her 
great  mental  activity  to-day,  and  her  rapid  ad- 
vancement of  late  years  in  material  concerns, 
gives  her  a  position  by  no  means  insignificant 
among  the  cities  of  America,  a  fitting  capital 
of  the  "Mother  of  States  and  of  statesmen." 


WILLIAMSBURG 

THE   ANCIENT    CAPITAL 

By  LYON  G.  TYLER 

WILLIAMSBURG  is  situated  on  the 
famous  Peninsula  of  Virginia,  between 
the  James  and  York  rivers.  On  this  Peninsula 
have  occurred  some  of  the  most  important 
events  in  history.  One  thing  alone  entitles  it 
to  pre-eminence  in  American  history. 

At  Jamestown,  seven  miles  distant  from 
Williamsburg,  was  established  the  first  per- 
manent English  settlement  on  the  North 
American  continent.  There  at  Jamestown 
English  settlers  planted  English  institutions, 
had  the  first  jury  trial,  and  summoned  the  first 
assembly  of  the  people.  There,  too,  was  the 
first  enunciation  on  this  continent  of  the  mem- 
orable principle  that  taxes  must  not  be  im- 
posed except  with  consent  of  the  people  in 
their  representative  assembly.    All  subsequent 

185 


1 86  Williamsburg 

English  colonization  in  America  had  its  chief 
inspiration  in  the  successful  upbuilding  of  the 


OLD    POWDER-HORN. 


settlement  at  Jamestown.      The   Peninsula  is 
in  truth  "the  cradle  of  the  Union." 

But  the   Peninsula  has   also    its   Vorktown, 


Williamsburg  187 

thirteen  miles  distant  from  Williamsburg, 
This  place,  which  once  had  a  very  great  trade 
with  Glasgow  and  London,  but  which  was 
never  more  than  a  village  of  a  few  hundred 
inhabitants,  may,  nevertheless,  claim  to  be  the 
beginning  and  ending  of  Colonial  resistance. 
Towering  on  the  river  bank  is  the  beautiful 
monument,  erected  in  1881,  which  tells  that 
there  Lord  Cornwallis  surrendered  in  1781  the 
British  power  in  America  to  George  Washing- 
ton, Commander-in-Chief  of  the  American 
armies.  But  another  monument  might  stand 
in  close  proximity,  with  this  inscription,  that 
there  the  first  meeting  of  the  people  of  Vir- 
ginia was  held  in  1635  under  the  leadership  of 
Nicholas  Martian,  an  ancestor  of  Washineton, 
to  protest  against  the  tyranny  of  the  Governor, 
Sir  John  Harvey,  who  was  shortly  after  de- 
posed and  sent  a  prisoner  to  England  in  the 
custody  of  two  members  of  the  Assembh'. 
Nor,  in  referring  to  this  neighborhood,  must  I 
omit  mention  of  Hampton  at  the  extreme  end 
of  the  Peninsula,  which  is  the  oldest  town 
in  English  America,  which  boasts  the  oldest 
free  school,  and  which,  twice  a  victim  to 
the  flames  of  war,  gave  its  name  to  the 
great  landlocked    haven  where  the  JMcri'iniac 


1 88  Williamsburg 

revolutionized  naval  warfare  by  Its  victory 
oyer  the  Federal  wooden  battle-ships  in    1862. 

Finally,  six  miles  from  Hampton  is  New- 
port News,  where  the  first  cotton  was  planted 
in  America,  and  where  there  has  suddenly 
sprung  up  a  rushing,  driving  city,  tremulous 
with  the  hopes  of  the  future,  and  already  real- 
izing the  dream  of  its  first  settlers,  who  relied 
on  the  magnificent  opportunities  which  its 
situation  at  the  conjunction  of  the  James  River 
with  Hampton  Roads  afforded.  The  Penin- 
sula has  been  traversed  by  British,  French,  and 
American  armies,  and  in  our  own  times  is 
memorable  as  the  scene  of  the  tremendous 
struggle  between  the  opposing  armies  of  the 
Northern  and  Southern  States,  under  the  lead 
of  McClellan  and  Johnston — a  struggle  sus- 
tained on  both  sides  with  conspicuous  bravery 
and  endurance,  and  culminating  in  the  battles 
about  Richmond  in  1862, 

Until  1630,  the  settlements  of  the  English 
in  Viro-inia  were  confined  to  the  Accomac  Pe- 
ninsula,  on  the  other  side  of  Chesapeake  Bay, 
and  to  the  valley  of  the  James.  In  that  year 
the  Governor  and  Council  determined  to  make 
a  settlement  in  the  Indian  district  of  Chiski- 
ack  in  the  neighborhood  of  Yorktown.      Soon 


igo  Williamsburg 

after  one  of  the  leading  men,  Dr.  John  Pott, 
from  Harop,  in  Yorkshire,  England,  observed 
the  advantaofes  of  a  location  on  the  ridcre  be- 
tween  Jamestown  and  Chiskiack,  obtained  a 
patertt  for  a  plantation  there,  and  called  it 
*'  Harop."  The  authorities  endorsed  his  judg- 
ment and  in  1632  sent  settlers  thither  for  the 
purpose  of  establishing  a  town  upon  the  spot. 
This  was  the  beginning  of  Williamsburg, 
which  was  called  at  first  the  "  Middle  Planta- 
tion," because  of  its  location  midway  between 
the  York  and  the  James. 

The  Middle  Plantation,  though  for  many 
years  a  small  village,  was  from  the  first  a 
strategic  point  of  much  value.  Two  deep 
creeks,  with  wide  morasses,  penetrate  to  the 
spot  from  the  James  and  York  respectively,  so 
that  no  hostile  force  can  proceed  up  or  down 
the  Peninsula  without  passing  through  the 
place.  The  first  settlement  was  walled  in  with 
palisades,  and  the  corn-fields  lay  on  the  west  of 
these.  In  the  war  with  Opechancanough  in 
1644,  the  place  was  commanded  by  Captain 
Robert    Hisj^orinson,^   a   soldier   of   credit    and 

'The  tombstone  of  his  daughter,  Lucy  Burwell,  wife  of  Hon. 
Lewis  Burwell,  describes  him  as  "the  valiant  Capt.  Robert 
Iligginson,  one  of  the  first  commanders  that  subdued  the  country  of 
N'irginia  from  the  power  of  the  heathen." 


Williamsburg  191 

renown.  When  Bacon  in  1676  drove  Sir  Wil- 
liam Berkeley  from  Jamestown,  here  at  Mid- 
dle Plantation,  just  a  hundred  years  before  the 
American  Revolution,  the  former,  calling  him- 
self "  General  by  consent  of  the  People,"  held 
his  famous  parliament  of  the  leading  men  of 
the  Colony,  who  published  those  papers  which 
sound  so  much  like  the  inspiring  literature  of 
the   Revolution.^ 

In  preparing  an  oath  to  be  administered  to 
the  people,  the  three  articles  proposed  were 
read  by  James  Minge,  Clerk  of  the  House  of 
Burgesses  :  First,  that  they  should  aid  Gen- 
eral Bacon  in  the  Indian  war ;  second,  that 
they  would  oppose  Sir  William  Berkeley's  en- 
deavor to   hinder  the  same  ;    third,   that  they 

'  One  of  these  papers,  styled  "  Nathaniel  IJacon,  Esq.,  his  Mani- 
festo concerning  the  present  troubles  in  Virginia,"  has  words  which 
ring  out  very  much  like  the  celebrated  language  of  Patrick  Henry — 
"If  this  be  treas6n,  make  the  most  of  it."  Bacon  said:  "If 
virtue  be  a  sin,  if  piety  be  guilt,  if  all  the  principles  of  morality 
and  goodness  be  perverted,  we  must  confess  that  those  who  are  now 
called  '  Rebels,'  may  be  in  danger  of  this  high  imputation  ;  but 
if  there  be,  as  sure  there  is,  a  just  God  to  appeal  to,  if  to  plead 
the  cause  of  the  oppressed,  if  sincerely  to  aim  at  his  Majesty's 
honor  and  the  public  good  without  any  reservation  or  by-interest, 
if  to  stand  in  the  gap  after  so  much  blood  of  our  dear  brethren 
bought  and  sold,  if  after  the  loss  of  a  great  jiart  of  his  Majesty's 
Colony  deserted  and  dispeopled,  freely  with  our  lives  and  estates  to 
endeavor  to  save  the  remainder — be  treason,  God  Almighty  judge 
and  let  the  guilty  die." 


192  Williamsburg 

luonld  oppose  any  power  sent  out  fj'oni  Eng- 
land, till  temns  were  agreed  to. 

The  overweening  confidence  of  the  people 
of  Virginia  in  themselves  was  shown  in  the  re- 
mark of  Bacon  that  "  one  Virginian  was  equal 
to  four  red-coats."  Middle  Plantation,  how- 
ever, witnessed  a  sad  sight  some  months  later. 
The  hero  of  the  people  had  succumbed  to  dis- 
ease, and  Sir  William  Berkeley  was  again  in 
power.  Among  those  who  supported  Bacon 
with  their  counsel  and  sympathy,  though  not 
with  arms,  was  William  Drummond,  first  Gov- 
ernor of  North  Carolina,  and  here  at  Middle 
Plantation  he  expiated  his  offence  on  the  gal- 
lows. The  circumstances  surrounding  the  exe- 
cution were  unusually  affecting.  Tried  by  a 
drumhead  court-martial,  he  was  condemned, 
stripped,  the  ring  torn  from  his  finger,  sen- 
tenced at  one  o'clock  and  hanged  at  four. 
Berkeley,  however,  did  not  long  exult  in  his 
power,  for  the  British  Government  recalled  him 
to  England,  where  he  soon  died, 

Jamestown  with  all  the  public  buildings  had 
been  destroyed  during  the  course  of  the  war. 
The  suggestion  was  now  offered  to  make  Mid- 
dle Plantation  the  capital,  but  was  not  adopted^ 
and  Jamestown  was  again  restored. 


1  ,4>r'"-..         ,'>ji 


li    U  '  *w^'?i;nr<il*ru)'""\<Si»iNl^^^^ 


194  Williamsburg 

In  1683,  a  handsome  brick  church  was  erected 
at  Middle  Plantation,  and  fifteen  years  later 
the  "  old  fields  "  in  front  of  the  town  were  se- 
lected as  the  site  for  the  "  Royall  Colledge  " 
of  William  and  Mary.  Then  in  1698,  the 
State  House  at  Jamestown  falling  again  a  vic- 
tim to  fiames,  Governor  Francis  Nicholson 
proposed  to  carry  out  the  original  suggestion 
of  making  the  Middle  Plantation  the  seat  of 
government.  The  Legislature  seconded  him  in 
this,  stating  in  the  preamble  to  their  act  that 
"  the  Middle  Plantation  had  been  found  by 
constant  experience  to  be  healthy  and  agree- 
able to  the  constitutions  of  the  inhabitants  of 
this,  his  Majesty's,  colony  and  dominion  "  ;  that 
"  its  air  was  serene  and  temperate,"  and  that 
"  its  land  was  dry  and  champaign,  and  plenti- 
fully stored  with  wholesome  springs." 

Soon  there  rose  at  Middle  Plantation  a  build- 
ing in  the  shape  of  an  "  H,"  the  first  "  Capitol  " 
so  called  in  the  United  States  (the  term  "  State 
House"  beine  used  in  the  other  colonies), 
then  a  palace  for  the  governor,  a  theatre,  the 
first  also  in  EnofHsh  America,  for  the  enacting 
of  tragedies  and  comedies,  an  armory  for  the 
care  of  the  public  arms  and  ammunition,  a  pub- 
He  prison,  the  first  hospital  for  the  insane  in 


Williamsburg 


195 


America,  and  other  buildings — all  of  brick.  In 
honor  of  the  reiofninp'  monarch  the  name  of 
the  place  was  in  1699  changed  to  that  of  Wil- 
liamsburg, for  which  a  city  charter,  in  1722, 
was  obtained  in  the  name 
of  King  George  I.,  and 
under  the  seal  of  the 
Colony. 

Thenceforward,  the  his- 
tory of  Williamsburg 
became  the  history  of  Vir- 
ginia— for  here  until  1779 
resided  the  Governor  of 
the  Colony,  and  here  were 
held  the  sessions  of  the 
Council  and  the  House  of  the  founder  of  william  and 

Bi       .    1  MARY  COLLEGE. 

urgesses,   and   the   ses- 
sions of  the  Supreme  Court. 

But  the  life  in  Virginia  was  essentially  a  rural 
one,  and  Williamsburg  never  attained  a  popu- 
lation of  over  two  thousand.  During  great  pub- 
lic occasions,  it  assumed  something  of  a  real  city 
character.  On  such  occasions,  the  streets  of 
Williamsburg  were  crowded  with  the  chariots 
of  the  great  planters,  who  rolled  in  great  state 
from  their  plantations,  carrying  their  families 
and  attended  by  postilions  and  outriders. 


196  Williamsburg 

In  1 716,  Governor  Spotswood  left  Williams- 
burg on  his  memorable  trip  to  the  Blue  Ridge 
Mountains,  instituting  on  his  return  the  order 
of  "  The  Knights  of  the  Horseshoe,"  which 
has  been  celebrated  in  story  and  verse.  This 
expedition  was  the  beginning  of  that  march  of 
empire  to  the  West  which  in  our  time  has 
arrived  at  the  far-distant  Philippine  Islands. 

In  I  754,  from  the  same  city  of  Williamsburg, 
went  Georo^e  Washino^ton  to  demand  of  the 
French  commander  an  explanation  of  his  occu- 
pation of  Virginia  soil  on  the  Ohio.  This  was 
the  first  act  in  the  drama  of  the  French  and 
Indian  War, wdiich,  bydrivingthe  French  power 
from  this  continent,  laid  the  foundation  of  the 
future  American  nation.  Subsequently,  in  all 
the  events  that  finally  culminated  in  war  with 
Great  Britain,  Williamsburg  was  not  only  the 
capital  of  Virginia,  but  in  many  ways  the 
capital  of  the  revolting  colonies. 

It  was  a  memorable  day  in  1765,  when 
Patrick  Henry  offered  in  Williamsburg  his 
famous  resolutions  against  the  Stamp  Act. 
Samuel  Adams  of  Massachusetts  led  the  way 
in  1764  in  remonstrating  against  the  passage 
of  the  Stamp  Act,  and  Virginia  and  the  other 
colonies  had  quickly  followed  along  the  same 


Williamsburg 


197 


line  ;  but  protests  and  petitions  were  unavail- 
ing. Parliament  enacted  the  stamp  bill  into 
law,  and  the  alternatives  presented  were  sub- 
mission or  resistance.  There  was  a  painful 
silence  throughout  the 
colonies.  In  the  North 
"  there  was  no  declared 
purpose  of  action."  The 
usual  and  constitutional 
method  of  petition  and 
remonstrance,  often  re- 
sorted to  in  the  past  his- 
tory of  the  colonies 
against  governmental  ac- 
tion, had  been  tried.  Otis  (dc^  \S  S  u^-cXc^ 
advised    submission,    and 

was  elected  by  Boston  to  a  seat  in  the  Legis- 
lature. When  the  Massachusetts  Legislature 
met,  Oliver,  the  stamp  distributor,  was  elected 
councillor.  Samuel  Adams  advised  only  a 
meeting  of  the  colonies  to  confer  on  the  con- 
dition  of  things.  It  was  a  supreme  moment, 
but  Virofinia  rose  to  the  occasion.  From 
the  Capitol  at  Williamsburg  rang  out  the 
clarion  voice  of  Patrick  Henry.  He  main- 
tained by  resolutions  that  the  inhabitants  of 
Viro-inia  inherited  from  the  first    adventurers 


19^  Williamsburg 

and  settlers  of  that  dominion  equal  franchises 
with  the  people  of  Great  Britain  ;  that  ro)al 
charters  had  declared  that  equality  ;  that 
taxation  by  themselves  or  by  persons  chosen 
by  themselves  to  represent  them  was  the  dis- 
tinofuishinof  characteristic  of  British  freedom  ; 
that  the  people  of  that  most  ancient  Colony 
had  uninterruptedly  enjoyed  the  right  of 
being  thus  governed  by  their  own  laws  re- 
specting their  internal  policy  and  taxation  ; 
that  this  riofht  had  never  been  forfeited  or  in 
any  other  way  given  up,  but  had  been  con- 
stantly recognized  by  the  King  and  people  of 
Great  Britain  ;  that  the  General  Assembly  of 
the  whole  Colony  had  the  sole  right  and  power 
to  lay  taxes  on  the  inhabitants  of  the  Colony  ; 
that  any  attempt  to  vest  such  power  in  any 
other  person  whatever  tended  to  destroy  Brit- 
ish as  well  as  American  freedom ;  that  the 
people  of  Virginia  were  not  bound  to  give 
obedience  to  any  law  designed  to  impose  taxa- 
tion upon  them  other  than  the  laws  of  their 
own  General  Assembly  ;  and  that  any  one  who 
should,  either  by  speaking  or  writing,  maintain 
the  contrary  should  be  deemed  an  enemy  to 
the  Colony. 

In    the    maintenance    of    these    resolutions 


Williamsburg  199 

Henry,  lifted  out  of  self,  shouted  those  im- 
mortal words,  "  Tarquin  and  Caesar  had  each 
his  Brutus,  Charles  I.  his  Cromwell,  and 
George  III." — and  here  he  was  interrupted  by 
the  cry  of  "Treason  !" — "may  profit  by  their 
example  ;  if  this  be  treason,  make  the  most  of 
it."  "This  is  the  way,"  says  Bancroft,  "that 
the  fire  beran.  Virginia  rano-  the  alarm  bell 
for  the  continent." 

After  this,  with  each  of  the  great  epochs  in 
the  constitutional  development  following  the 
Stamp  Act,  Williamsburg,  either  through  the 
men  born  and  raised  in  the  place,  or  educated 
at  its  famous  college  of  William  and  Mary,  had 
an  imperishable  connection.  It  was  Richard 
Bland,  an  alumnus  of  the  college,  who  first 
announced,  in  a  pamphlet  entitled  A7t  Enquiry 
into  the  Rights  of  the  British  Colonics,  the 
startling  doctrine  that  America  was  no  part  of 
the  kingdom  of  England,  and  had  never  been 
united  with  it  except  by  the  common  tie  of  the 
crown,  Dabney  Carr,  another  alumnus  of 
the  college,  was  the  patron  of  the  resolutions 
in  1773  for  appointment  of  intercolonial  com- 
mittees of  correspondence,  —  the  first  step 
taken  towards  united  action  on  the  part  of 
the  colonies.     Then  it  was  Peyton  Randolph,, 


200 


Williamsburg 


born  in  Williamsburg  and  educated  at  its  col- 
lege, who  when  the  first  Congress  came 
together  in    1774,  offered  himself  as  the  con- 


JOHN  TYLER,  SR. 

spicuous  mark  of  British  resentment  in  con- 
senting to  act  as  first  President  of  the  Con- 
tinental  Congress.       In    1776,   it  was  another 


Williamsburg  201 

alumnus  of  the  college,  Thomas  Jefferson,  who, 
in  the  language  of  Ezra  Stiles,  President  of 
Yale,  "  poured  the  soul  of  the  continent  into 
the  monumental  act  of  Independence."  In 
1786,  John  Tyler,  Sr.,  born  in  the  country 
near  Williamsburg,  and  another  alumnus,  car- 
ried through  the  Virginia  Legislature  the 
proposition  for  a  convention  of  the  States  at 
Annapolis.  In  1787,  Edmund  Randolph,  a 
native  of  Williamsburg  and  an  alumnus  of  the 
college,  opened  the  proceedings  of  the  con- 
vention at  Philadelphia  by  submitting  "  the 
Virginia  plan"  of  a  constitution  which  gave 
direction  to  its  proceedings. 

A  sketch  of  Williamsburg,  however,  would 
not  be  complete  without  some  details  of  the 
famous  Convention  which  met  in  the  city  on 
May  6,  1776.  Edmund  Pendleton  of  Caro- 
line County  was  elected  President,  and  John 
Tazewell  of  Williamsburg,  Secretary.  On 
the  day  after  the  Convention  met  they  fixed 
on  the  13th  to  go  into  the  Committee  of  the 
Whole  to  consider  the  state  of  the  Colony. 
Colonel  Archibald  Cary,  an  alumnus  of  William 
and  Mary  College,  presided  over  this  commit- 
tee. The  question  of  independence  was  intro- 
duced at  once,  and  was  debated  on  that  and 


202  Williamsburg 

the  next  day,  and  the  committee  rose  and 
reported  the  following  resolutions,  drawn  by 
Edmund  Pendleton,  which  were  unanimously 
agreed  to  by  the  Convention,  i  12  members  be- 
ing present : 

"  Forasmuch  as  all  the  endeavors  of  the  United 
Colonies,  by  the  most  decent  representations  and  peti- 
tions to  the  King  and  Parliament  of  Great  Britain,  to  re- 
store peace  and  security  to  America  under  the  British 
government,  and  a  reunion  with  that  people  upon  just  and 
liberal  terms,  instead  of  a  redress  of  grievances,  have 
produced,  from  an  imperious  and  vindictive  adminstra- 
tion  increased  insult,  oppression,  and  a  vigorous  attempt 
to  effect  our  total  destruction.  By  a  late  act  all  these 
Colonies  are  declared  to  be  in  rebellion,  and  out  of  the 
protection  of  the  British  Crown  ;  our  people,  when  cap- 
tivated, compelled  to  join  in  the  murder  and  plunder  of 
their  relations  and  countrymen  ;  and  all  former  rapine 
and  oppression  of  Americans  declared  legal  and  just. 
Fleets  and  armies  are  raised  and  the  aid  of  foreign 
troops  engaged  to  assist  these  destructive  purposes.  The 
King's  representative  in  this  Colony  hath  not  only  with- 
held all  the  powers  of  government  from  o]:)erating  for  our 
safety,  but,  having  retired  on  board  an  armed  ship,  is 
carrying  on  a  piratical  and  savage  war  against  us,  tempt- 
ing our  slaves  by  every  artifice  to  resort  to  him,  and 
training  and  employing  them  against  their  masters.  In 
this  state  of  extreme  danger  we  have  no  alternative  left 
but  an  abject  submission  to  the  will  of  those  overbear- 
ing tyrants,  or   a  total  separation    from  the  Crown  and 


Williamsburg  203 

Government  of  Great  Britain,  uniting  and  exerting  the 
strength  of  all  America  for  defence  and  forming  alli- 
ances with  foreign  powers  for  commerce  and  aid  in  war: 
Wherefore,  appealing  to  the  Searcher  of  Hearts  for  the 
sincerity  of  former  declarations,  expressing  a  desire  to 
preserve  the  connection  with  that  nation,  and  that  we  are 
driven  from  that  inclination  by  their  wicked  councils, 
and  the  eternal  laws  of  self  preservation  ; 

"  Resolved  unanimously,  that  the  delegates  appointed 
to  represent  this  Colony  in  General  Congress,  be  in- 
structed to  propose  to  that  respectable  body  to  declare 
the  United  Colonies  free  and  independent  states 
absolved  from  all  allegiance  to  or  dependence  upon  the 
Crown  or  Parliament  of  Great  Britain,  and  that  they 
give  the  assent  of  this  Colony  to  such  declaration,  and 
to  whatever  measures  may  be  thought  proper  and  neces- 
sary by  the  Congress  for  forming  foreign  alliances,  and  a 
confederation  of  the  Colonies,  at  such  time,  and  in  the 
manner,  as  to  them  shall  seem  best  ;  Provided,  that  the 
power  of  forming  government  for,  and  the  regulations 
of  the  internal  concerns  of,  each  Colony  be  left  to  the 
respective  Colonial  Legislatures. 

"  Resolved  unanimously,  that  a  committee  be  appointed 
to  prepare  a  declaration  of  Rights,  and  such  a  plan 
of  government  as  will  be  most  likely  to  maintain  peace 
and  order  in  this  Colony,  and  secure  substantial  and 
equal  liberty  to  the  people." 

On  June  i:,  1776,  a  committee,  at  the  head 
of  which  was  Thomas  Jefferson,  was  appointed 
by  Congress  in  Philadelphia  to  prepare  a 
"  Declaration  of  Independence  "  ;  and  on  July 


204  Williamsburg 

I  St,  R.  H.  Lee's  resolution  of  independence 
was  adopted,  and  on  July  4th  the  immortal 
Declaration  by  Thomas  Jefferson.  Nor  was 
this  all  that  Virginia  did.  It  having  been  de- 
termined to  procure  a  Declaration  of  Rights 
and  a  written  constitution  for  the  State,  the 
Convention,  on  May  15th,  appointed  a  com- 
mittee of  thirty-one,  at  the  head  of  which  was 
Archibald  Gary,  to  do  the  work.  Many  pro- 
jects were  submitted,  but  the  Declaration  of 
Rights  and  the  State  constitution  prepared 
by  the  master-hand  of  George  Mason,  "  swal- 
lowed up  all  the  rest."  The  former  document, 
adopted  June  12,  1776,  contained  all  that  was 
valuable  in  Magna  Gharta  and  the  Bill  of  Rights 
of  1 689,  and  much  more  ;  for  it  stands  with- 
out a  rival  as  a  summary  of  the  rights  of  man 
and  also  of  the  principles  of  free  government. 
The  latter  document,  ^ — the  constitution, — 
adopted  on  June  29,  1776,  unlike  the  similar 
constitutions  established  by  South  Carolina 
and  other  colonies,  declared  the  connection 
with  Great  Britain  "  totally  dissolved,"  furnish- 
ing in  this  way  the  first  example  in  this  country 
of  a  written  constitution  of  a  free  and  indepen- 
dent State. 

Thus,    in  the  language  of  John  Adams   of 


MARY   GARY,    WASHINGTON'S    EARLY    LOVE. 


205 


2o6  Williamsburg 

Massachusetts,  Virginia  "  has  the  glory  with 
posterity  of  beginning  with  the  resolutions 
against  the  Stamp  Act,  and  of  concluding  with 
the  acts  of  the  Convention  of  Ma)-,  1776,  the 
great  American  Revolution  "  ;  and  Willianis- 
burg  was  the  scene  of  these  great  proceedings 
in  the  annals  of  the  world. 

Williamsburg  lost  its  metropolitan  honors 
in  1779,  when  Richmond  became  the  capital 
of  Virginia.  The  effect  was  disastrous,  and  its 
population  decreased  from  two  thousand  in 
1776  to  twelve  hundred  in  1795.  Many  of  the 
houses  became  tenantless,  and  the  population 
of  the  place  never  rose  above  sixteen  hundred 
in  after  years. 

But  the  old  city  still  retained  its  college, 
which,  despite  many  vicissitudes,  continued  to 
maintain  its  influence  in  the  Union.  Indeed, 
William  and  Mary  College  holds  a  unique 
position  in  the  history  of  the  United  States. 
In  its  antecedents,  it  is  the  oldest  of  Ameri- 
can colleges  ;  in  actual  operation,  it  is  second 
only  to  Harvard.  It  is  the  only  college  that 
received  its  charter  direct  from  the  Crown 
under  the  seal  of  the  Privy  Council  in  Eng- 
land. It  was  the  first  college  to  have  a  full  fac- 
ulty of  professors.      It  was  the  first  to  abandon 


Williamsburg  207 

the  Oxford  curriculum  and  adopt  the  "  elective 
system,"  which  it  did  in  1779.  It  was  the 
first  to  adopt  the  "  honor  system,"  which 
discountenances  the  custom  prevailing  at 
some  colleges  even  now  of  spying  and  in- 
forming on  students.  It  was  the  first  colleo-e 
in  America  to  widen  its  curriculum  into  the 
scope  of  a  university  by  establishing  chairs  of 
law  and  medicine,  in  addition  to  the  classics 
and  the  sciences.  It  was  the  first  to  establish 
schools  of  modern  languages,  history,  political 
economy  and  constitutional  and  political  law. 
It  was  the  first  to  establish,  in  the  Phi  Beta 
Kappa  Society,  an  intercollegiate  fraternity, 
having  for  its  object  purely  literary  improve- 
ment ;  and  it  was  the  first  to  award  strictly  col- 
legiate prizes,  as  manifested  in  the  gold  medals 
donated  by  Lord  Botetourt  in  1771. 

Of  the  seven  Presidents  born  in  \  irginia, 
three — Thomas  Jefferson,  James  Monroe  and 
John  Tyler — were  educated  at  William  and 
Mary.  To  these  men  is  to  be  ascribed  the 
annexation  of  Louisiana,  Florida,  Texas  and 
most  of  the  Western  territory,  thus  trebling 
the  original  area  of  the  Union.  Four  out  of 
five  judges  contributed  by  Virginia  to  the 
Supreme    Bench   of   the    United    States   were 


2o8  Williamsburg 

educated  at  William  and  Mary.  The  most 
illustrious  commander  of  the  Federal  armies 
down  to  1 86 1,  General  Winfield  Scott,  was  a 
William  and  Mary  man.  Of  twenty-seven  Sen- 
ators from  Virginia  (1789-1861),  sixteen,  and 
of  the  four  Speakers  of  the  House  of  Repre- 
sentatives from  Virginia,  three,  of  three  min- 
isters plenipotentiary  to  England,  two,  and  of 
six  ministers  to  France,  four,  were  alumni  ;  and 
John  James  Beckly,  first  Librarian  of  Congress 
and  first  Clerk  of  the  House  of  Representa- 
tives, was  a  W^illiam  and  Mary  man. 

Of  forty-three  members  of  the  Supreme 
Court  of  Virginia,  down  to  1861,  twenty-one, 
and  of  thirty-three  governors  of  Virginia,  fif- 
teen, were  alumni.  Out  of  a  numerical  total  of 
seventy-six  judges  and  governors  of  Virginia, 
William  and  Mary  contributed  thirty -six; 
Princeton,  two  ;  Hampden-Sidney,  two  ;  Uni- 
versity of  Virginia,  three  ;  Dickinson  College, 
one  ;  University  of  Pennsylvania,  one  ;  College 
of  South  Carolina,  one  ;  Randolph-Macon,  one; 
Yale,  one  ;  Washington  College,  Pennsylvania, 
one  ;  European  colleges,  five,  and  the  rest  ob- 
tained their  education  at  private  schools. 

The  society  of  Williamsburg  has  had  its 
attractions  from  the  earliest  times.     The  Rev. 


CHIEF  JUSTICE  MARSHALL 
209 


2IO  Williamsburg 

Hugh  Jones,  Chaplain  of  Governor  Spotswood 
and  Professor  of  Mathematics  in  the  college, 
thus  wrote  of  the  town  in  1722: 

"  At  the  Capitol,  at  publick  times,  may  be  seen  a  great 
number  of  handsome,  well  dress'd,  compleat  Gentlemen. 
And  at  the  Governor's  House  upon  Birth  Nights,  and  at 
Balls  and  Assemblies,  I  have  seen  as  fine  an  Appearance, 
as  good  Divertion,  and  as  splendid  Entertainments  in 
Governor  Spotswood's  time,  as  I  have  seen  any  where  else. 

"These  buildings  here  described  are  justly  reputed 
the  best  in  all  English  America,  and  are  exceeded  by  few 
of  their  Kind  in  England. 

"  In  every  part  of  this  Town  are  excellent  Springs  of 
good  Water,  or  else  may  be  made  good  Wells  ;  and  the 
Ground  falling  on  both  Sides  conveys  the  Water  and 
Rain  by  small  Channels  into  the  Creeks  ;  but  to  make 
the  main  Street  exactly  level,  the  Assembly  gave  a  con- 
siderable Sum,  which  was  expended  in  removing  Earth 
in  some  places,  and  building  a  Bridge  over  a  low  Chan- 
nel ;  so  that  it  is  now  a  pleasant,  long,  dry  Walk,  broad, 
and  almost  level  from  the  College  to  the  Capitol.  Wil- 
liamsburg is  now  incorporated  and  made  a  Market  Town, 
and  governed  by  a  Mayor  and  Aldermen  ;  and  it  is  well 
stocked  with  rich  Stores,  of  all  Sorts  of  Goods,  and  well 
furnished  with  the  best  Provisions  and  Liquors. 

"  Here  dwell  several  good  Families,  and  more  reside 
here  in  their  own  Houses  at  publick  times.  They  live  in 
the  same  neat  Manner,  dress  after  the  same  Modes,  and 
behave  themselves  exactly  as  the  Gentry,  in  London; 
most  Families  of  any  note  having  a  Coach,  Chariot, 
Berlin  or  Chaise. 


Williamsburg 


211 


"The  Number  of  Artificers  is  here  daily  augmented  ; 
as  are  the  convenient  Ordinaries  or  Inns  for  the  Accom- 
dation  of  Strangers. 

"  The  Servants  here,  as  in  other  parts  of  the  country, 
are  English,  Scotch,  Irish,  or  Negroes. 

"The  Town  is  laid  out  regularly  in  Lots  or  square 
Portions,  sufficient  each  for  a  House  and  Garden  ;  so 
that  they  don't  build  contiguous,  whereby  may  be  pre- 
vented the  spreading  Danger  of  Fire  ;  and  thus  also 
afford  a  free  Passage  of  Air,  which  is  very  grateful  in 
violent  hot  Weather. 

"  Here,  as  in  other  Parts,  they  build  with  Bricks,  but 
most  commonly  with  Timber  lined  with  Cieling,  and 
cased  with  feather-edged  Plank,  painted  with  white  Lead 
and  Oil,  covered  with  Shingles  of  Cedar,  etc.,  tarred 
over  at  first,  with  a  Passage  generally  through  the  Middle 
of  the  House  for  an  Air- Draught  in  Summer. 

"  Thus  their  Houses  are  lasting,  dry,  and  warm  in 
Winter,  and  cool  in  Summer ;  especially  if  there  be 
Windows  enough  to  draw  the  Air. 

"Thus  they  dwell  comfortably,  genteely,  pleasantly, 
and  plentifully  in  this  delightful,  healthful,  and  (I  hope) 
thriving  City  of  Williamsburg." 

At  the  theatre  in  Williamsburg,  built  about 
1 716,  the  first  professional  comedies  and 
tragedies  in  America  were  played  by  Charles 
Staesf,  who  was  assisted  by  actors  and  mu- 
sicians  from  England.  He  died  in  1735,  and, 
for  several  years  after,  the  building,  which 
stood   on   what  is   known  as   the  Tucker  lot, 


212  Williamsburg 

was  used  for  amateur  theatricals,  in  which  the 
students  of  the  college  figured  as  the  actors. 
About  1 745  the  building  was  surrendered  to 
the  city  for  a  city  hall.  In  1751,  "The  New 
Theatre "  near  the  Capitol  was  built  by  a 
company  of  comedians  from  New  York,  and 
in  1752,  the  Hallam  Company,  professional 
players  from  the  theatre  in  Goodmanfields, 
near  London,  made  their  appearance  in 
Williamsburg.  This  was  a  great  event  in  the 
Colonial  life.  It  was  at  this  time  that  Lewis 
Hallam  made  his  debut,  at  the  age  of  twelve, 
on  the  boards.  This  prince  of  the  theatre, 
who  for  a  long  period  had  no  rival  in  America, 
havinof  on  this  occasion  but  a  sintjle  sentence 
to  recite,  broke  down  in  the  middle,  and  rushed 
in  tears  from  the  staofe. 

In  I  771,  the  celebrated  Miss  Hallam  visited 
Williamsburg.  She  had  "starred"  it  in  Mary- 
land, where  all  the  swains  of  that  Colony  had 
paid  her  tribute  in  poetry  and  where  Peale  had 
painted  her  portrait.  An  extract  from  a  letter 
of  Colonel  Hudson  Muse,  of  Virginia,  will 
recall  the  glory  of  her  debut  at  "  The  New 
Theatre  "  in  Williamsburg. 

"  In  a  few  days  after  I  got  to  Virginia  I  set  out  to 
Williamsburg    where   I   was    detained    for    eleven    days, 


Williamsburg 


21 


though  I  spent  the  time  very  agreeably  at  the  plays  every 
night,  and  really  must  join  Mr.  Ennalls  and  Mr.  Bas- 
sett  in  thinking  Miss  Hallam  superfine.   But  must  confess 


GEORGE  WYTHE. 


her  luster  was  much  sullied  by  the  number  of  beauties 
that  appeared  at  that  court.  The  house  was  crowded 
every  night,  and  the  gentlemen  who  have  generally  at- 
tended that  place  agree  there  was  treble  the  number  of 


2  14  Williamsburg 

fine  ladyes  that  was  ever  seen  in  town  before. — For  niv 
part  I  think  it  would  be  impossible  for  a  man  to  have 
fixed  upon  a  ])artner  for  life,  the  ciioice  was  too  general 
to  have  fixed  on  one." 

The  public  buildings  in  Williamsburg  ap- 
pear to  have  been  the  best  in  British  America 
at  the  time  of  their  erection.  Weld,  in  his 
Travels,  says  that  "the  town  in  1795  contained 
about  1200  people,  and  the  society  in  it  is 
thouorht  to  be  more  extensive  and  more  een- 
teel  at  the  same  time  than  any  place  of  its  size 
in  America."  The  city  was  then  the  residence 
of  the  Rev.  James  Madison,  President  of  the 
College,  who  was  the  first  to  teach  political 
economy  at  any  American  college  ;  of  George 
Wythe,  the  teacher  of  both  Marshall  and  Jef- 
ferson, and  the  first  American  professor  of  law  ; 
of  Charles  Bellimi,  the  first  American  professor 
of  modern  languages  ;  of  John  Blair,  Associate 
Justice  of  the  United  States  ;  of  Peter  Pel- 
ham,  the  musician,  to  whose  solemn  strains  on 
the  organ  the  great  Washington  had  often 
lent  a  willing  ear  as  he  sat  in  the  old  brick 
church  on  Sundays  ;  and  of  many  other  persons 
of  refinement  and  cultivation. 

Williamsburg  was  the  residence  in  1841  of 
John  Tyler,  when  he  was  called  to  the  Presi- 
dential chair  by  the  death  of  Harrison. 


Williamsburg 


215 


In  1 861,  it  shared  in  all  the  excitement  of 
the  approaching  Civil  War.  The  college  con- 
tributed all  its  students  and  professors  to  the 


JOHN  TYLER,   PRESIDENT  OF  THE   UNITED  STATES. 

Southern  army,  as  the  old  city  contributed  all 
its  able-bodied  citizens.  During  the  war 
its  churches  and  the  college  were  occupied  as 


2i6  Williamsburg 

hospitals  by  the  armies  on  both  sides.  Through 
the  city  passed  the  army  of  Johnston,  on  its 
withdrawal  from  Yorktown ;  and  within  its 
streets  burst  the  shells  of  the  Federals  in  the 
bloody  battle  of  Williamsburg- in  1862.  Then 
came  the  great  army  of  McClellan — and  so  the 
scenes  of  direful  war  changed  and  sliifted,  the 
place  being  sometimes  in  possession  of  the  Con- 
federates and  sometimes  in  possession  of  the 
Federals. 

Peace  came  at  last,  and  the  war-worn  city 
took  up  again  the  burden  of  its  destiny.  The 
college,  which  had  been  burned  by  the  Federal 
troops,  was  rebuilt  on  the  old  walls,  after  the  old 
Confederate  soldiers  returned  to  their  homes. 
In  1 88 1,  the  centennial  of  the  surrender  of 
Lord  Cornwallis  awakened  new  life.  The 
Chesapeake  and  Ohio  Railroad  ran  its  cars 
through  the  place  for  the  first  time,  as  it  trans- 
ferred the  multitudes  to  Yorktown,  thirteen 
miles  away.  In  1888,  the  college,  which  had 
been  closed  for  several  years,  assumed  new 
energies  under  the  patronage  of  the  State 
Legislature.  Then,  in  1893,  the  bicentennial 
year  of  the  college  charter.  Congress,  by  an 
appropriation  of  money,  made  amends  in  some 
measure     for    the     injuries    inflicted    by    war. 


Williamsburg 


217 


Since  that  time,  the  place  has  greatly  im- 
proved. The  "  Ancient  Capital "  has  its  face 
toward  the  future,  while  proudly  conscious 
of  the  past.  It  is  often  visited  by  travel- 
lers from  Europe,  and  from  the  North,  who 
never  fail  to  take  away  with  them  kind  im- 
pressions of  the  neighborhood,  and  who  love 
to  repeat  in  letters  to  newspapers  and  other 
periodicals  the  interesting  stories  of  its  ancient 
and  modern  history. 


SEAL  OF  WILLIAM  AND  MARY  COLLEGE. 


WILMINGTON 

"THE  FREE  TOWN  ON  THE  CAPE  FEAR" 
By  JOSEPH  BLOUNT  CHESHIRE 

NORTH  CAROLINA  might  be  called  the 
State  without  a  city  —  civitas  sine  tirbe. 
It  has  never  had  a  capital  or  a  metropolis,  ex- 
cept arbitrarily  and  in  name  only.  It  has  been 
a  rural  State,  a  State  of  planters  and  farmers. 
Its  eminent  lawyers,  and  even  its  physicians 
and  merchants,  have  often  been  also  its  emi- 
nent farmers.  The  first  president  of  the  State 
Agricultural  Society  was  the  Chief  Justice  of 
its  Supreme  Court. 

The  physical  conditions  of  a  countr)-  pre- 
determine the  lines  of  its  development.  North 
Carolina's  interminable  length  of  dangerous 
coast-line  repelled  the  earliest  attempt  at 
English  settlement.  Sir  Walter  Raleigh's  ex- 
pedition of  1585,  coasting  along  its  inhospi- 
table sands,   divined  their  true  character,  and 

219 


220  Wilmington 

marked  down  upon  the  first  map  that  ominous 
name  —  Promontoriiiin  Tremcndnni  —  Cape 
Fear.  And  in  spite  of  all  improvements  in 
navigation  they  have  remained  a  menace  and 
a  terror.  Hatteras  and  Cape  Lookout  and 
Cape  Fear  warned  off  commerce  and  settle- 
ment. 

The  eloquent  words  of  the  late  Mr.  George 
Davis,  of  Wilmington,  applied  to  Cape  Fear, 
are  descriptive  of  the  general  character  of  the 
North  Carolina  coast : 

"  Looking  then  to  the  Cape  for  the  idea  and  reason 
of  its  name,  we  find  that  it  is  the  southernmost  ]:)oint  of 
Smith's  Island,  a  naked,  bleak  elbow  of  sand  jutting  far 
out  into  tlie  ocean.  Immmediately  in  its  front  are  the 
Frying  Pan  Shoals,  pushing  out  still  farther,  twenty 
miles  to  sea.  Together  they  stand  for  warning  and  for 
woe  ;  and  together  they  catch  the  long  majestic  roll  of 
the  Atlantic  as  it  sweeps  througli  a  thousand  miles  of 
grandeur  and  power  from  the  Arctic  towards  the  Gulf. 
It  is  the  play-ground  of  billows  and  of  tempests,  the 
kingdom  of  silence  and  awe,  disturbed  by  no  sound  but 
the  sea-gull's  shriek  and  the  breakers'  roar.  Its  whole 
aspect  is  suggestive,  not  of  repose  and  beauty,  but  of 
desolation  and  terror.  Imagination  cannot  adorn  it. 
Romance  cannot  liallow  it.  Local  pride  cannot  soften 
it.  There  it  stands  to-day,  bleak  and  threatening  and 
pitiless,  as  it  stood  three  hundred  years  ago,  when  Gren- 
ville  and  White  came  near  unto  death   upon   its  sands. 


Wilmington 


221 


And  there  it  will  stand,  bleak  and  threatening  and  piti- 
less, until  the  earth  and  the  sea  shall  give  up  their  dead. 
And  as  its  nature,  so  its  name,  is  now,  always  has  been, 
and  always  will  be,  the  '  Cape  of  Fear.'  " 

But  the  broad  sounds  and  rivers  and  fertile 
lands  which  lay  behind  these  barriers  of  sand 
and  storm  invited  immigration,  and  soon  after 
the  middle  of  the  seventeenth  century  settlers 
began  to  pour  in  by  different  routes.  From 
Virginia  they  crowded  across  into  the  northern 
and  eastern  sections.  The  Swiss  and  the  Pal- 
atines came  into  the  Neuse,  and  by  the  middle 
of  the  eighteenth  century  the  Highland  Scotch 
were  swarming  up  the  Cape  Fear,  while  the 
Scotch-Irish  from  Pennsylvania  spread  over 
the  country  on  both  sides  of  the  Yadkin,  and 
westward  to  the  Catawba,  where  they  were 
mingled  with  the  Germans,  who  also  came 
mostly  by  way  of  Pennsylvania.  Coming  into 
the  country  by  different  routes,  separated  from 
each  other  by  the  unsettled  wilderness,  find- 
ing no  centre  of  power  or  of  Influence  within 
the  Province  to  draw  them  toorether,  each  of 
these  sections  lived  In  a  measure  to  Itself,  and 
communicated  with  the  outside  world  throuo-h 
those  routes  of  travel  by  which  each  had  first 
entered  the  country.     The  Albemarle  section 


222  Wilmington 


&' 


traded  with  Virginia,  Cape  Fear  with  Barba- 
does  and  Charleston.  The  Scotch-Irish  of  the 
Piedmont  country  were  better  acquainted  with 
their  brethren  in  Pennsylvania,  and  in  nearer 
sympathy  with  them,  than  with  the  Scotch  on 
the  upper  Cape  Fear  and  lower  Yadkin.  The 
little  settlement  of  Maryland  Churchmen  in 
Rowan  kept  up  communication  with  their  kins- 
folk in  St.  Mary's  County  at  the  mouth  of  the 
Potomac,  and  their  Lutheran  neighbors  sent 
back  to  Hanover  for  teachers  and  ministers, 
and  had  their  services  in  the  German  tongue 
until  well  on  in  the  nineteenth  century. 

Not  only  was  there  no  metropolis — for  the 
first  fifty  years  there  were  no  towns.  The 
Palatines  and  Swiss  at  the  confluence  of  the 
Neuse  and  the  Trent  laid  out  the  little  town 
of  Newbern,  and  the  Moravians,  soon  after 
I  750,  began  their  town  of  Salem,  but  nowhere 
else  in  the  Province  was  a  town  made  the 
basis  of  the  settlement.  The  Anglo-Saxon 
self-reliance  and  freedom  never  showed  itself 
more  self-reliant  and  free  than  in  the  uncon- 
scious daring  which  spread  over  thousands  of 
square  miles  of  savage  wilderness  with  never 
a  centre  of  strength  or  of  succor  provided 
aofainst  a  time  of  danp-er. 


Wilmington 


22^ 


Fifty  years  after  the  beginning  of  its  per- 
manent settlements,  its  first  town,  Bath,  had 
only  a  dozen  small  houses,  and  its  second, 
Newbern,  was  just  founded.  Edenton  dates 
from    1 716;    Beaufort  from    1723;    Brunswick 


RESIDENCE  OF  JAMES  SPRUNT. 

FORMERLY    THE    RESIDENCE    OF    GOVERNOR    DUDLEY. 

from  1725,  though  not  incorporated  until  1745  ; 
and  Wilmington  from  1730  or  1735.  At  the 
end  of  one  hundred  years  of  settlement,  North 
Carolina  had  only  these  six  villages,  and  it  is 
doubtful  if  the  most  populous  had  as  many 
as  six  hundred  inhabitants,  though  there  was 
a  population  of  over  fifty  thousand  in  the 
Province. 


224  Wilmington 

Bath,  incorporated  in  i  705,  was  never  more 
than  the  inconsiderable  village  which  it  is  to- 
day. The  first  town  to  become  of  any  im- 
portance was  Edenton,  looking  southward  from 
a  gentle  elevation  at  the  head  of  a  beautiful 
little  bay  on  the  north  side  of  the  upper  end  of 
Albemarle  Sound.  Over  against  this  bay  the 
broad  mouths  of  the  Chowan  and  the  Roanoke 
brought  her  the  trade  of  the  back  country, 
and  down  the  sound  and  across  the  shifting 
bars  at  Ocracoke  and  New  Inlet  a  little  tieet 
of  schooners  and  briers  be^an  to  carr^■  on  trade 
coastwise  and  with  the  West  Indies,  and  pres- 
ently across  the  ocean. 

The  facetious  Colonel  William  Byrd  of 
Westover  visited  Edenton  in  1728,  and  tells 
us  that  its  forty  or  fifty  houses  were  mostly 
small  and  poor,  and  that  only  the  better  sort 
had  brick  chimneys.  He  says  that  the  Court 
House  looked  like  a  tobacco  barn,  and  that  it 
was,  as  he  supposed,  the  only  "  metropolis  "  in 
the  world  which  had  no  house  of  worship  of 
any  kind,  and  no  religious  teacher  or  minister. 
This  may  have  been  true  as  to  the  corporate 
limits  of  the  town,  but  we  know  that  a  church 
had  been  built  at  "  Queen  Anne's  Creek,"  the 
former    name    of    the    point    where    Edenton 


226  Wilmington 

stands,  twenty-five  years  earlier ;  and  a  few 
years  after  Colonel  Byrd's  visit  the  church  still 
standing  was  begun,  and  after  many  years  was 
completed  in  such  fashion  that  to-day  St. 
Paul's  Church,  Edenton,  remains  the  most  ad- 
mirable example  we  have  of  our  Colonial  archi- 
tecture, and  a  stately  and  becoming  temple  of 
Christian  worship.  About  the  same  time  the 
present  Court  House  was  also  built.  It  fronts 
upon  an  open  square,  sloping  gently  down  to 
the  margin  of  the  bay,  so  that  the  judge,  sitting 
on  the  bench  and  lookingr  throuirh  the  front 
windows,  enjoys  a  beautiful  view  of  the  waters 
across  the  sound  towards  Plymouth.  This  has 
not  always  been  conducive  to  the  despatch  of 
business.  A  very  able  and  learned  judge  from 
the  up-country,  upon  his  first  holding  court  in 
Edenton,  is  said  to  have  stopped  the  eloquent 
counsel  in  the  midst  of  his  speech,  and  to 
have  declared  that  it  would  be  impossible  for 
him  to  attend  to  his  argument  until  it  could  be 
explained  to  him  how  two  vessels,  which  he 
saw  out  in  the  bay,  could  be  sailing  in  exactly 
opposite  directions  on  the  same  wind. 

Edenton  never  became  a  very  large  town. 
The  sloops  and  schooners  and  brigs  which  car- 
ried the  wheat  and  corn  and  pork  and  lumber 


Wilminorton  227 


to  the  Northern  or  West  Indian  markets,  could 
very  often  run  up  the  deep  creeks  and  inlets 
almost  to  the  farmer's  barn,  or  to  the  lumber- 
man's camp  in  the  swamp;  and  a  few  merchants 
were  enouofh  to  do  the  limited  business  of  a 
purely  agricultural  community.  But  from  1722 
to  I  743  the  Assembly  met  here,  with  few  ex- 
ceptions, and  the  General  Court  was  held  here, 
so  that  it  was  the  first  settled  seat  of  govern- 
ment. And  even  after  the  growth  of  the 
Province  to  the  southward  demanded  a  more 
central  location  for  the  government,  Edenton 
still  grew  and  prospered,  and  became  a  place  of 
wealth  and  importance,  and  the  centre  of  a 
society  as  cultivated  and  refined  as  could  be 
found  anywhere  in  the  country.  It  was  a  port 
of  entry,  though  the  official  title  of  the  col- 
lector was  Collector  of  the  Port  of  Roanoke  ; 
and  thither,  in  1769,  came  James  Iredell,  a  lad 
of  seventeen,  as  deputy  under  his  kinsman, 
Henry  Eustace  McCulloh.  He  afterwards  be- 
came an  Associate  Justice  of  the  United  States 
Supreme  Court,  and  had  a  county  of  North 
Carolina  named  in  his  honor.  He  was  one  of 
the  most  truly  admirable  characters  in  our  his- 
tory, and  his  correspondence  is  our  richest 
mine  of  information  concerning  the  social  life 


22; 


Wilmington 


of  his  times,  as  well  as  the  most  instructive 
view  we  have  had  left  us  of  the  civil  and 
political  history  of  the  State  durino;'  its  sub- 
revolutionary  period.  He  has  left  us  a  bright 
and  pleasing  picture  of  the  old  times  in  Eden- 
ton,  when  Samuel  Johnston,  Joseph  Hewes, 
Charles  Johnson  and  Hugh  Williamson  were 
its  leading  men,  and,  with  the  other  notables  of 
that  region, — Blounts,  Skinners,  Hoskinsesand 
others, — made  up  a  society  whose  traditions  re- 
main and  give  to  Edenton  a  distinction  which 
time  has  not  entirely  destroyed.  After  it  had 
lone  ceased  to  be  the  seat  of  ofovernment  it  re- 
tained  to  a  considerable  extent  its  prestige  in 
all  the  northern  section  of  the  State,  com- 
mercialh'  and  socially. 

Newbern,  laid  out  by  Colonel  Thomas  Pol- 
lock on  his  own  lands  about  the  time  of  the 
coming  of  De  Graffenreid,  was  not  incorporated 
until  1723.  In  1738,  Governor  Gabriel  John- 
ston called  the  Assembly  to  meet  there,  and  in 
I  746  the  Assembly  designated  it  as  the  seat  of 
government.  With  a  few  exceptions  the  sub- 
sequent sessions  of  the  Assembly  were  held 
there  during  the  continuance  of  the  ro)al  au- 
thority, Tryon,  the  first  of  the  royal  govern- 
ors  who   wholly   abandoned    residence   in    the 


Wilmington  229 

country,  built  his  famous  "Palace"  there,  in 
which  he  and  his  wife  sat  while  receiving  their 
company,  with  an  assumption  of  royal  state 
which  offended  the  pride  of  the  Colonial  gentry, 
who  did  not  lack  a  sense  of  their  own  dignity. 

Into  the  Cape  Fear  River  adventurers  from 
New  England  had  come  as  early  as  1661,  and 
had  beeun  the  raisincr  of  cattle  on  the  abun- 
dant  natural  pasturage  of  the  country.  They 
soon  abandoned  the  enterprise,  driven  off,  it  is 
said,  by  the  Indians,  whose  children  they  had 
sent  to  be  sold  for  slaves  in  New  England. 

In  1665,  Sir  John  Yeamans,  a  wealthy 
planter  of  Barbadoes,  brought  in  a  colony 
from  that  island,  and  began  a  settlement  at 
"  Old  Town,"  eight  miles  below  the  site  of 
Wilmino-ton.  This  was  also  abandoned  after 
a  few  years,  Yeamans  going  back  to  Barbadoes, 
and  the  settlers  going  either  north  to  the 
Albemarle  section,  or  south  to  the  new  city 
Charleston,  at  the  confluence  of  the  Ashley 
and  the  Cooper  Rivers. 

At  the  end  of  the  proprietary  period  the 
whole  of  what  was  known  as  Clarendon 
County  had  only  about  five  hundred  white 
inhabitants.  In  spite  of  its  noble  river  and 
fertile   lowlands    it    had    a  bad    name.       Two 


2:;o 


Wilmington 


attempts  to  settle  it  had  failed,  as  we  have  seen; 
and,  added  to  the  terrors  of  the  coast,  which  its 
very  name,  Cape  Fear,  advertised,  the  lower 
river  had  been  for  years  the  refuge  and  rendez- 


v/ 


HARNETT'S  HOUSE,       HILTON,"   NEAR  WILMINGTON. 

vous  of  bands  of  pirates.  As  early  as  1684 
they  are  known  to  have  resorted  to  these  re- 
mote and  solitary  waters,  and  early  in  the  eigh- 
teenth century  it  was  the  headquarters  of  that 
nefarious  band  among  whom  Stead  Bonnet  and 
Teach,  or  Black  Beard,  were  leaders,  who  with 


Wilmington 


2M 


unparalleled  insolence  lay  off  the  harbor  at 
Charleston  and  sent  a  deputation  into  the  city 
to  hector  the  very  Governor  and  Council,  and 
to  demand  and  obtain  certain  medical  supplies 
which  they  needed.  This  insolence,  however, 
proved  their  ruin  :  Governor  Johnston  and 
Colonel  Rhett  attacked  Bonnet  and  his  party 
in  their  Cape  Fear  retreats,  and  carried  off 
all  whom  they  did  not  kill,  to  be  tried  and 
hanged  at  Charleston;  at  about  the  same  time 
Teach  and  his  crew  were  attacked  and  killed 
or  hanged  by  an  expedition  from  Virginia 
under  officers  of  the  royal  navy,  so  that  the 
Cape  Fear  was  permanently  freed  from  these 
pests. 

The  settlers  from  the  Albemarle  and  the 
Neuse  now  began  to  press  down  toward  the 
fertile  bottoms  along  the  northeast  branch  of 
the  Cape  Fear,  while  about  the  same  time  a 
movement  from  South  Carolina  brought  a 
number  of  its  distinguished  men  into  the  same 
region  from  the  opposite  direction.  The  names 
Moseley,  Lillington,  Swann,  Porter,  Ashe,  Har- 
nett, Rowan  and  others,  first  prominent  in  the 
Albemarle  settlements,  became  the  leading 
names  in  the  southern  section;  while  the  Moore 
brothers,   descendants   of    Sir  John   Yeamans,, 


2y. 


Wilmington 


and  already  distinguished  in  the  Province  of 
South  Carolina,  led  a  number  of  their  best 
families  to  seek  a  new  home  and  to  extend  the 
culture  of  rice  into  this  region. 

The  town  of  Brunswick,  in  the  new  county 


"ORTON   HOUSE." 

of  New  Hanover,  was  laid  out  by  Maurice 
Moore  in  1725  or  thereabouts,  though  not 
incorporated  until  1745.  It  was  intended  for 
the  county  town,  and  affords  even  now  in 
its  ruins  many  evidences  of  the  wealth  and 
culture  of  its  inhabitants.  All  about  it  are 
remains  of  Colonial  plantations  and  residences 
of  whose  owners  we  have  in  most  cases  very 
insufficient    knowledc^e,   but    who    must    have 


Wilmineton 


i5' 


been  people  of  wealth,  culture  and  taste. 
The  most  notable  Colonial  residence  now  re- 
maining in  North  Carolina  is  the  mansion 
known  as  "  Orton,"  built  by  Roger  Moore  be- 
fore 1734,  a  mile  or  so  above  Brunswick, 
though  part  of  the  building  is  of  more  recent 
date.  The  new  Church  of  St.  Philip  was 
solemnly  dedicated  Tuesday  in  Whitsun-week, 
1768,  by  the  Rev.  John  Barnett  and  the  Rev. 
John  Wills,  with  a  special  service  approved  by 
Governor  Tryon,  who  declared  this  to  be  "  the 
King's  Chapel."  Its  dimensions  were  seventy- 
five  feet  by  fifty-five  ;  and  its  walls,  nearly  three 
feet  thick,  and  still  standing  almost  untouched 
by  time,  though  for  the  better  part  of  a  cen- 
tury roofless  and  abandoned,  indicate  the  dig- 
nified character  of  the  original  building.  The 
size  and  workmanship  of  the  gravestones  in 
the  churchyard,  no  less  than  the  names  and  in- 
scriptions thereon,  attest  the  wealth  and  intel- 
ligence of  the  worshippers.  The  King  sent 
over  a  communion  service  of  massive  silver, 
which  some  have  supposed  to  be  the  service 
now  the  property  of  Christ  Church,  Newbern, 
transferred  to  Newbern  when  Governor  Tryon 
built  his  "  Palace "  there,  and  made  Christ 
Church  the  "  King's  Chapel  "  of  the  Province. 


234 


Wilmington 


St.  Philip's,  though  dedicated  in  1 768,  had 
been  begun  more  than  twenty  years  earlier, 
and  had  probably  resounded  to  the  strains  of 
that  remarkable  "  Thanksgiving  Hymn  "  com- 
posed by  Governor  Arthur  Dobbs  upon  the 
capture  of  Quebec  by  Wolfe  in  1759. 


THE  WALLS  OF  ST.   PHILIP'S  CHURCH,   BRUNSWICK,   SHOWING   PART  OF 

THE  CORNER-STONE   BROKEN   OUT  AND  RIFLED  BY 

FEDERAL  SOLDIERS  IN   1865. 


But  the  glory  of  old  Brunswick  was  tran- 
sient, and  its  life  was  absorbed  by  the  new 
settlement  fifteen  miles  higher  up  the  river. 
In  1739,  tl^6  Assembly  passed  an  act  by  which 
it  was  provided  that  the  county  offices  of  New 
Hanover,  and  the  office  of  the  Collector  and 


Wilmineton  235 


•fe 


Officer  of  the  Port  of  Brunswick,  should  there- 
after be  established  at  the  "  villagfe  called 
Newton,"  at  the  confluence  of  the  two  branches 
of  the  Cape  Fear  River  ;  and  this  village  was 
incorporated  as  a  town  by  the  name  of  Wil- 
mington, in  honor  of  Spencer  Compton,  Baron 
Wilmington,  the  friend  and  patron  of  Governor 
Gabriel  Johnston,  Its  more  favorable  situa- 
tion attracted  the  increasing  trade  which  came 
down  the  two  branches  of  the  river,  and  af- 
forded greater  security  against  the  severe 
storms  as  well  as  the  privateers  which  now 
and  then  threatened  vessels  lying  in  the  road- 
stead at  Brunswick,  while  its  more  healthful 
climate  made  it  a  more  desirable  place  of  resi- 
dence. The  wealth  and  influence  of  Bruns- 
wick for  a  while  prevailed,  and  it  fought  hard 
to  retain  its  superiority,  but  it  fought  in  vain. 
For  some  years  before  the  beginning  of  the 
Revolution  Wilmington  was  securely  estab- 
lished as  the  chief  town  of  the  Cape  Fear 
section,  and  in  a  manner  the  heir-apparent  to 
the  culture  and  influence  of  Brunswick. 

In  itself,  Wilmington  was  an  inconsiderable 
place  until  some  time  after  the  Revolution. 
But  it  was  the  centre  of  a  most  cultivated, 
high-spirited   and  intelligent  population,   and, 


236  Wilmington 

as  it  were,  the  stage  upon  which  all  the  emi- 
nent men  of  the  country  around  performed 
their  parts.  It  was  at  once  the  head  and  the 
heart  of  the  Cape  Fear  section.  Its  history 
is  not  the  history  of  the  dwellers  within  its  cor- 
porate limits  alone.  The  owner  of  a  house 
and  lot  in  the  town  could  vote  for  its  member 
of  the  Assembly,  though  he  left  his  house  va- 
cant and  lived  in  the  country  ;  and  the  quali- 
fication of  its  representative  was  not  residence 
in  the  town,  but  the  ownership  of  town  prop- 
erty. So  it  came  about  that  many  of  the 
most  prominent  characters  in  its  history,  those 
who  were  actors  in  its  most  stirring  scenes, 
and  who  are  identified  with  its  memories  and 
traditions,  never  resided  within  its  limits. 
There  were  wealthy  and  intelligent  and  public- 
spirited  townsmen, — James  Innes,  Louis  and 
Moses  John  de  Rosset,  William  and  George 
Hooper,  Archibald  Maclean,  Eagles,  Quince, 
Lloyd,  Davis,  Hogg,  Campbell  and  others ; 
but  the  greater  number  of  its  most  eminent 
names  are  those  of  men  living  in  the  country 
around, — Ashe,  Waddell,  Moore,  Burgwin, 
Harnett,  Lillington,  Moseley  and  Swann. 
One  of  its  notable  citizens  was  Colonel  James 
Innes,    who,    having    been    an    officer    in    the 


^        .J 


^ 


<  O 


238  Wilmington 

North  Carolina  contingent  sent  to  aid  Admiral 
Vernon's  ill-fated  expedition  against  Cartha- 
gena,  afterwards  commanded  the  joint  forces 
of  X^irginia  and  North  Carolina  against  the 
French  in  1754.  Another  distinguished  man 
of  this  section,  Major  Hugh  Waddell,  com- 
manded the  North  Carolina  troops  sent  to 
Virginia  in  the  second  French  war. 

It  was  in  the  dissensions  preceding  the 
Revolution  that  Wilmington  first  assumed  the 
position  of  leadership  in  the  Province.  She 
had  no  single  man  superior  to  Iredell  or  John- 
ston of  Edenton,  but  there  were  in  Wilming- 
ton, and  residing  in  the  country  around,  a 
larger  number  of  men  than  could  be  found  in 
any  other  portion  of  the  Province  of  like  com- 
manding character  and  eminent  ability. 

Wilmington  may  fairly  claim  the  first  place 
amonor  all  the  towns  of  America  for  resistance 
to  the  Stamp  Act.  Governor  Tryon,  in  his 
despatches,  tells  us  how  Colonel  Ashe,  with 
the  militia  of  New  Hanover  County,  came 
openly  to  the  Governor's  house  in  Brunswick 
and  compelled  William  Houston,  the  stamp 
master,  who  had  gone  to  the  Governor  for 
protection,  to  go  with  them  to  Wilmington, 
and  before  the  Mayor,  Moses  John  de  Rosset, 


Wilmington 


and  the  City  Council,  in  the  Court  House,  to 
resign  his  office  and  to  take  an  oath  that  he 
would  not  receive  the  stamps.  He  also  says 
that  upon  the 
arrival  of  the 
sloop  of  war  Dil- 
z'cence  at  Bruns- 
wick  with  the 
stamps,  they 
were  not  landed, 
as  there  was  no 
person  to  re- 
ceive them.  But 
h  e  neglects  t  o 
give  the  true 
reason,  w  h  i  c  h 
was  that  the 
m  en  of  New 
Hanover,  under 
Colonel  Wad- 
dell,  assembled  at  Brunswick  and  notified  the 
commander  of  XX^^  Diligence  that  they  would  not 
allow  the  stamps  to  be  landed.  A  few  weeks 
later,  when  Captain  Lobb,  of  the  J^ipcr,  had 
seized  two  vessels  in  the  harbor  for  the  want 
of  proper  papers  bearing  the  required  stamps, 
the   men   of   Wilmino-ton,  this  time  under  the 


HUGH   WADDELL. 


40 


Wilmington 


lead  of  Moore,  Harnett,  Lillinyton,  Lloyd 
and  Ashe,  in  defiance  of  two  armed  vessels, 
the  Viper  and  the  Diligence,  compelled  the 
surrender  of  the  vessels  which  had  been  seized, 
to  the  great  disgust  of  the  Governor.  All 
these  actions  were  open  and  undisguised,  the 
people  of  the  country  assembling  in  arms  un- 
der their  chosen  leaders,  and  compelling  both 
the  civil  and  the  naval  authorities  to  yield  to 
their  demands. 

The  same  prompt  and  intrepid  spirit  showed 
itself  throucrhout  the  whole  struorale,  which 
was  just  beginning  in  1765.  Nine  years  later 
this  little  community,  hardly  to  be  called  a 
town,  raised  eight  hundred  pounds  in  a  very 
short  time  in  response  to  the  appeal  in  behalf 
of  Boston  ;  and  sent  to  that  city  a  ship-load 
of  supplies.  Its  Committee  of  Safety,  whose 
minutes  have  been  preserved  from  1774  to 
1776,  when  its  function  was  superseded  by  the 
organization  of  the  State  under  its  Constitu- 
tion, kept  a  very  vigilant  watch,  and  enforced 
most  faithfully  the  recommendations  of  the 
Continental  Congress.  One  clay  they  are  pro- 
viding powder,  preventing  the  importation  of 
negroes,  and  compelling  the  reshipment  of 
those  brought  in  ;  and  the  next  day  they  are 


Wilmington 


241, 


ordering  the  discontinuance  of  public  balls, 
and  requesting  ladies  not  to  allow  them  in 
their  private  houses,  as  being  contrary  "  to 
the  spirit  of  the 
8th  Article  of  the 
Association  of 
the  Continental 
Concrress."  Their 
courage  and  ad- 
dress  interposed  a 
constant  ob- 
stacle between 
Governor  Martin 
in  Fort  Johnston 
and  his  p  a  r  t  )^ 
friends  among  the 
inhabitants  ;  and 
when  they  found 

that     that     lOrtin-     william  hooper   of  north   Carolina, 

^  ^  4-  ;  ^  .^  :  .,        i-U   ^  SIGNER  OF  THE   DECLARATION  OF 

cation,    in    the  independence. 

Governor's  pos- 
session, was  a  menace  to  the  cause  of  American 
independence,  they  encouraged  and  endorsed 
its  destruction.  Inspired  by  their  sympathy. 
Colonel  John  Ashe  in  July,  1775,  resigned  his 
office  of  Colonel  under  the  Provincial  eovern- 
ment,  accepted  an  election  as  Colonel  by  the 


242  Wilmington 

people,  marched  with  the  militia  to  the  fort 
and  burned  and  demolished   it. 

From  1773,  the  name  of  William  Hooper 
becomes  prominent  in  Wilmington,  The  son 
of  a  Boston  clergyman,  he  had  come  to  Wil- 
mington and  begun  the  practice  of  law  some 
years  before.  At  his  first  appearance  in  public 
affairs  he  took  his  place  alongside  of  Samuel 
Johnston,  James  Iredell,  Cornelius  Harnett 
and  John  Ashe,  as  a  leader  of  public  senti- 
ment. In  the  proceedings  of  the  Continental 
Congress  during  the  Revolution  and  in  the 
fateful  struggle  for  Federal  union  which  fol- 
lowed, he  was  second  to  none  in  integrity  of 
character,  in  brilliancy  of  talents  and  in  the 
utility  of  his  public  services  rendered  to  the 
State  and  to  the  country.  About  the  same 
time  Archibald  Maclean  removed  to  Wilming- 
ton from  Brunswick,  and  was  a  fiery  and 
caustic  champion  of  liberty  and  of  constitu- 
tional government. 

Wilming-ton  suffered  much  during:  the  Revo- 
lution.  For  almost  the  whole  of  the  year 
I  78 1  it  was  occupied  by  the  British  under  the 
command  of  Major  Craig,  a  cruel  and  implaca- 
ble enemy,  and  was  the  centre  of  active  enter- 
prises,  mostly    carried    on    by    means    of    the 


Wilmington 


24: 


worst  class  of  Tories,  extending  as  far  as 
Chatham  and  Orange,  and  marked  by  circum- 
stances of  rapine  and  atrocity.  The  brutal 
David  Fanning,  who  captured  Governor  Burke 


HEADQUARTERS  OF  LORD  CORNWALLIS,    WILMINGTON. 

and  all  his  suite  at  Hillsboro'  in  August  of 
this  year,  was  one  of  Craig's  favorite  instru- 
ments. The  most  distinguished  inhabitants, 
and  even  women  and  children,  as  in  the  case 
of  Mrs.  Hooper,  were  treated  with  inexcusa- 
ble cruelty.  Wilmington  has  few  monuments, 
but  the  house  still  stands  where  Cornwallis 
had    his    headquarters  when   passing  through 


2J.4  Wilmington 

towards  Yorktown  ;  and  Cornelius  Harnett's 
house,  the  Harnett  whom  Josiah  Ouincy  called 
the  Samuel  Adams  of  North  Carolina,  was 
standing  near  by  the  north  boundar\-  of  the 
city  only  a  few  years  ago. 

After  those  stormy  and  bitter  da)s  Wilming- 
ton saw  many  years  of  prosperity  and  peace. 
There  had  been  a  distinctly  literary  element 
here  in  Colonial  days.  The  first  American 
drama,  The  Prince  of  Parthia,  h\  Thomas 
Godfrey,  was  written  here  in  1759,  '^'"'^l  "^^''^^ 
years  afterwards  produced  on  the  stage  by  a 
company  of  local  amateurs.  Its  author  lies 
buried  in  St.  James's  churchyard.  When  peace 
had  brought  again  plenty  antl  prosperity,  and 
when  commerce  began  to  change  the  provin- 
cial town  into  a  bustling  mart  of  trade,  social 
refinement  and  intellectual  culture  revived, 
and  under  changed  conditions  democratic  in- 
stitutions the  Cape  Fear  section  asserted 
again  its  old  pre-eminence. 

During  the  war  between  the  States,  Wil- 
mington was  specially  noted  as  the  centre  of 
the  important  intercourse  between  the  Confed- 
erate States  and  foreign  countries  by  means  of 
the  "  blockade-runners."  A  hundred  steamers 
are  said  to  have  been  eno;ao['ed  in   this  traffic 


^'  f    ~  " '  r-  ^  p 

V      r-  ^  ^  I" 

c<^  ~  z^,y  ;.  -jj ,»  '  : 


c< 


^^  ;^ 


246  Wilmington 

between  Wilmington  and  the  West  Indies, 
and  for  many  miles  north  and  south  of  the  in- 
lets into  the  Cape  Fear,  the  beach  is  still 
marked  by  the  wrecks  of  those  run  ashore 
to  escape  the  blockading  squadron.  Some  of 
them,  however,  ran  almost  with  the  regularity 
of  mail-boats,  and  one  steamer  is  said  to  have 
made  over  fifty  successful  trips.  By  these  ves- 
sels supplies  of  all  kinds  and  munitions  of  war 
were  brought  in,  and  large  fortunes  made  by 
the  owners  and  commanders  of  the  successful 
steamers.  The  State  of  North  Carolina  owned 
one  of  the  most  fortunate  and  famous  of  these, 
the  Advance,  which  eluded  capture  and  con- 
tinued year  after  year  to  bring  in  shoes,  blan- 
kets and  clothing  for  the  North  Carolina 
soldiers  in  the  Confederate  army,  and  cotton- 
cards  for  the  women  at  home,  until  a  few 
months  before  Lee's  surrender.  Even  on  her 
last  fatal  voyage  she  had  skilfully  slipped  be- 
tween the  blockading  vessels  under  cover  of 
the  darkness,  and  before  day  dawned  she  was 
well  below  the  horizon  on  her  way  to  Nassau. 
But,  unhappily,  she  had  been  obliged  to  take 
in  at  Wilmington  a  quantity  of  coal  mined  in 
Chatham  County,  and  not  suitable  for  her  use, 
and  a  thick  trail  of  smoke  settling  down  over 


Wilmington 


247 


the  quiet  sea  betrayed  her.  The  blockading 
steamers  gave  chase  and  ran  her  down  by  her 
trail,  the  inferior  quality  of  her  coal  making  it 
impossible  for  her  to  attain  her  proper  speed. 

Wilmington  is  still  the  largest  town  and  the 
most  important  port  of  entry  in  the  State. 
Its  population,  like  that  of  the  State  at  large, 
has  been  but  little  diluted  by  foreign  immi- 
gration. It  retains  its  traditions  of  culture, 
of  hospitality,  of  loyalty  to  the  Anglo-Saxon 
heritage  of  freedom  and  independence,  and 
is  as  ready  now  as  ever  it  was  in  the  past 
to  resist  the  aggressions  of  power. 


CHARLESTON 

By  YATES  SNOWDEN 

*'  In  Pompeii,  the  tourist,  looking  from  blank  wall  to 
dusty  floor,  wonders  what  there  is  to  see  in  that  little 
hall,  but  a  native  goes  down  upon  his  hands  and  knees  ; 
with  a  few  brisk  passes  of  his  hand  the  sand  is  brushed 
away,  and  a  Numidian  lion  glares  forth  from  the  tes- 
selated  pavement." — Virginius  Dabney's  Don  Miff. 

FORTY-FIVE  years  before  the  English 
colonization  of  Virginia,  fifty-two  before 
the  Dutch  settlement  of  New  York  and  fifty- 
eight  before  the  Puritans  landed  at  Massachu- 
setts Bay,  Captain  Jean  Ribaut,  of  Dieppe, 
commanding  the  first  Huguenot  emigration  to 
North  America,  on  the  ist  of  May,  1562, 
entered  the  beautiful  harbor  of  Port  Royal, 
South  Carolina. 

In  his  journal,  as  translated  in  one  of  Hak- 
luyt's  black-letter  tracts,  he  describes  the  coun- 
try as  "full  of  hauens  Riuers  and  Hands  of 
such  fruitfulness  as  cannot  with  tongue  be  ex- 

249 


250  Charleston 

pressed  .  .  .  the  fairest,  fruitfullest,  and 
pleasantest  of  al  the  world." 

Internal  dissensions  weakened  the  infant 
Huguenot  colonies,  and  they  were  finally 
utterly  destroyed  by  the  Spanish  bigot, 
Menendez,  Though  in  after  years  the  Hu- 
guenot was  to  be  an  important  element  in  the 
peopling  of  the  colony,  the  crafty  Spaniard 
forever  prevented  the  domination  of  the  Fleur- 
de-Lis  on  the  South  Carolina  coast,  and  made 
the  way  clear  for  the  Lion  of  St.  George. 

In  1670,  one  hundred  and  eighteen  years 
later,  the  first  permanent  settlement  of  the 
Province  was  made  by  the  English  under 
Governor  William  Sayle,  at  Albemarle  Point, 
on  the  western  bank  of  the  Kiawah  (Ashley) 
River,  three  miles  from  the  present  site  of 
Charleston.  This  expedition  had  also  headed 
for  Port  Royal,  but  the  Cacique  of  Kiawah, 
a  friendly  Indian,  advised  that  the  land 
farther  up  the  coast  was  better  to  plant,  and 
the  colonists  acted  more  wisely  than  they 
knew,  for  a  few  years  later,  in  1686,  the 
Spaniards  utterly  destroyed  the  Scotch  colony 
established  at  Port  Royal  by  Lord  Cardross. 

On  August  17,  1669,  the  frigate  Carolina, 
the  Port  Royall  and  the  sloop  Albermarle  were 


Charleston  251 

at  anchor  in  the  Downs  with  ninety-three 
passengers  all  aboard  and  ready  for  sea.  A 
few  days  later  they  sailed  for  Kinsale,  Ire- 
land, and  thence  for  Barbadoes,  which  they 
reached  in  October.  A  West  Indian  grale 
wrecked  the  Alberniarle  on  the  Barbadian 
coast  and  another  vessel  was  procured,  and  on 
the  voyage  to  Carolina,  their  objective  point, 
the  Port  Royall  was  wrecked  on  one  of  the 
Bahamas.  The  ship  Carolina,  badly  battc^red, 
eventually  reached  Bermuda,  where  a  sloop  was 
engaged  to  assist  the  expedition  to  its  desti- 
nation. En  route  from  Barbadoes  they  passed 
through  dreadful  hurricanes,  and  the  Barba- 
dian sloop  did  not  reach  Ashley  River  until  a 
month  after  the  arrival  of  the  two  other  ves- 
sels. It  will  be  seen  that  it  was  through  storm 
and  stress  the  English  made  the  first  settle- 
ment of  Carolina,  and  that  of  the  three  ships 
that  left  England  with  the  emigrants,  the 
Carolina  was  the  only  one  to  reach  these  shores. 
Sir  John  Yeamans,  who  had  taken  charge  of 
the  expedition  when  it  left  Barbadoes,  with- 
drew from  its  management  when  it  reached 
Bermuda,  and  inserted  the  name  of  Colonel 
Wm.  Sayle  as  Governor  in  the  blank  commis- 
sion which  he  had  from  the  Lords  Proprietors. 


252  Charleston 

A  contemporary  writer  describes  this,  the  first 
Governor  of  South  Carohna,  as  "  of  Ber- 
muda, a  Puritan  and  Non-Conformist,  whose 
rehgious  bigotry,  advanced  age  and  fail- 
ing health  promised  badly  for  the  discharge 
of  the  task  before  him."  Governor  Sayle  died 
within  the  year  and  the  colonists  selected 
Joseph  West  as  his  successor,  When  the 
news  of  Sayle's  death  reached  England,  the 
Lords  Proprietors  again  appointed  Sir  John 
Yeamans  Governor,  in  which  position  he 
served  most  unsatisfactorily  to  the  Proprietors 
until  his  death  in  1674. 

The  settlers  of  Charles  Town  had  not  been 
two  years  on  the  western  bank  of  the  Ashley 
before  they  recognized  the  unfitness  of  its 
location,  and  settlements  were  soon  made  on 
the  peninsula  called  0)'ster  Point,  two  miles 
away,  and  in  sight  of  the  sea.  These  settle- 
ments increased,  and  in  1680  the  public  offices 
w^ere  removed  to  the  present  site  of  Charleston. 

In  spite  of  religious  dissensions  between 
Churchmen  and  Dissenters  and  the  opposition 
to  law  and  order  natural  to  the  many  adven- 
turers and  cnfans  pcrdiis  who  flocked  to  Caro- 
lina as  to  other  colonies,  and  despite  wars 
with  the  Indians  in    1712  and   171  5,  commerce 


2  54  Charleston 

and  population  rapidly  increased.  In  1680, 
when  the  new  town  became  the  seat  of  oov- 
ernment,  there  were  as  many  as  sixteen  vessels 
discharging  and  loading  cargo  at  one  time. 

John  Locke,  who  had  written  the  Ftinda- 
mcntal  Constitntions  for  the  colony,  was  a 
Socinian,  but  doubtless  by  instruction  from 
seven  of  the  Lords  Proprietors, — Lord  Shaftes- 
bury, the  eighth,  was  a  Deist, — the  philosopher 
declared  that  the  Church  of  England  was 
"  the  only  true  and  Orthodox  and  the  national 
relii7;ion  of  the  Kino-'s  Dominions." 

Not  until  1 680  are  there  any  authentic  records 
of  any  church  in  Charleston,  but  there  appears 
to  have  been  a  rapid  growth  in  grace  as  well 
as  population,  for  in  1704  there  were  five 
places  of  public  worship,  St.  Philip's  (Episco- 
pal) Church,  the  Huguenot  Church,  the  First 
Baptist  Church,  the  White  Meeting  House 
(Presbyterian  and  Congregational),  and  the 
Quaker  Meeting  House. 

General  Edward  McCrady,  the  State's  latest 
and  ablest  historian,  writing  of  the  period  of 
1715,  says  of  the  colony  : 

"  In  this  small  community  of  less  than  6,000  there 
were  Churchmen  from  England  and  Barbadoes,  Inde- 
pendents from  England,  Old   and    New,   Baptists  from 


»:*|1 


s»1 


f?r^ 


ST.   PHILIP'S  CHURCH,   CHARLESTON. 

255 


256  Charleston 

Maine,  and  Huguenots  from  France  and  Switzerland,  all 
zealous  of  their  peculiar  religious  tenets,  and  many,  if 
not  most,  with  tenacity  of  bigotry  and  fanaticism.  Caro- 
lina was  a  Church  of  England  Province  under  its  charter, 
and  the  Fundamental  Constitutions,  while  offering  the 
greatest  religious  freedom,  provided  only  that  God  was 
acknowledged  and  publicly  and  solemnly  worshipped, 
still  provided  for  the  establishment  and  maintenance  of 
that  Church." 

In  1706,  the  Spaniards,  who  had  ahvays  been 
a  menace  to  the  infant  colon)-,  made  their  first 
and  last  attack  on  Charleston,  and,  one  hun- 
dred and  ninety-three  years  later,  when  it  was 
rumored  that  Cervera  and  his  fleet  would  men- 
ace the  South  Carolina  coast  and  storm  Charles- 
ton, the  old  story  of  their  futile  effort  was  read 
with  intense  interest.  It  was  in  Havana  that 
Monsieur  Le  Feboure,  the  captain  of  a  French 
frigate,  planned  and  organized  the  memorable 
attack.  His  fleet  of  four  armed  sloops  stopped 
at  St.  Augustine  for  reinforcements  and  sup- 
plies, and  on  August  25th  "  five  separate 
smokers  appeared  on  Sullivan's  Island  as  a 
signal  to  the  town  that  that  number  of  ships 
was  observed  on  the  Coast."  Yellow  fever  was 
then  raging  in  Charleston,  but  Lieutenant- 
Colonel  Rhett,  commanding  the  militia,  or- 
dered a  general  alarm  by  drum-beat,  and  sent 


Charleston  257 

messengers  to  Governor  Sir  Nathaniel  John- 
son, who  was  at  his  plantation,  Silk  Hope,  on 
Cooper  River,  and  to  the  militia  companies  in 
the  neighboring  parishes,  calling  them  to  the 
relief  of  the  town. 

On  Tuesday  morning  the  allied  fleet  crossed 
the  bar,  and  the  next  day  Le  Feboure  sent 
Governor  Johnson  a  demand  for  the  surrender 
of  the  town  within  an  hour.  The  Governor 
replied  that  "  it  needed  not  a  quarter  of  an 
hour  or  a  minute's  time  to  give  an  answer  to 
the  demand  .  .  .  that  he  valued  not  any 
force  Le  Feboure  had  ;  and  bid  him  go  about 
his  business."  In  addition  to  the  fortifications 
ashore  Governor  Johnson  relied  for  defence 
upon  three  ships,  a  brigantine,  two  sloops  and 
a  fire-ship,  which  he  had  manned  and  equipped 
with  Colonel  Rhett  as  vice-admiral.  The  Gov- 
ernor's spirited  reply  to  Le  Feboure's  demand 
probably  unnerved  the  Spaniards  and  French, 
who  did  not  attempt  to  attack  the  town,  but 
ravaged  a  part  of  the  mainland  and  one  of  the 
islands  of  the  land-locked  harbor,  where  they 
met  stout  resistance  from  the  militia.  On 
Saturday,  Rhett  with  his  improvised  fleet  drove 
the  four  invading  war-ships  from  the  harbor  to 
the  open  sea,  and  would  have  destroyed  them, 


258  Charleston 

as  he  did  the  ships  of  Stede  Bonnet,  the  pirate, 
twelve  years  later,  but  for  a  threatening-  storm. 

Nothine  more  havintr  been  heard  of  the  al- 
lied  fleet,  the  country  militia  was  discharged. 
Then  the  news  came  that  a  French  war-ship, 
commanded  by  Captain  Pacquereau,  had  ap- 
peared in  Sewee  Bay  with  two  hundred  men. 
He  had  come  to  join  Le  Feboure,  but  was 
unaware  of  his  commander's  failure.  On 
September  2d,  Captain  Fenwicke  and  his 
militiamen  met  the  French  landing  party, 
killed  fourteen  and  captured  fifty  prisoners. 
Colonel  Rhett  demanded  and  received  the 
surrender  of  Pacquereau's  ship,  with  ninety 
men  aboard.  Charleston  had  two  hundred 
and  thirty  French  and  Spanish  prisoners,  but 
whether  or  not  they  died  of  yellow  fever, 
Hewatt,  the  only  historian  of  the  time, 
does  not  say,  and  unfortunately  Charles- 
ton could  not  boast  of  a  newspaper  until 
twenty-six  years  later.  The  failure  of  this  first 
of  three  attempts  to  take  Charleston  by  naval 
force  proved  that  "  the  sinews  of  war  are  the 
sinews  of  valiant  men,"  for  its  defenders  were 
weakened  by  yellow  fever  and  had  neither  full 
ranks  nor  strong-  fortifications.  Doyle,  the 
English  historian,  says  : 

"  The  settlers  who  held  Charlestown  aofainst 


Charleston 


259 


the  alHed  forces  of  France  and  Spain  were 
partners  in  the  glory  of  Stanhope  and  Marl- 
borough, heirs  to  the  glory  of  Drake  and 
Raleiorh." 

Josiah     Ouincy    of    Massachusetts    visited 


A   MODERN   CHARLESTON    RESIDENCE. 

Charleston  in  1773,  with  a  view  to  sounding 
the  leaders  of  public  opinion  and  seeing  if  the 
colony  was  ripe  for  rebellion.  He  was  sur- 
prised at  the  material  prosperity,  wealth  and 
hospitality  of  the  people.  He  says,  in  his  pub- 
lished diary  :  "  This  town  makes  a  beautiful 
appearance  as  you  come  up  to  it  and  in  many 
respects  a  magnificent  one.      I  can  only  say  in 


26o  Charleston 

general  that  in  grandeur,  splendor  of  buildings, 
decorations,  equipages,  numbers,  commerce, 
shipping  and  indeed  everything,  it  far  sur- 
passes all  I  ever  saw,  or  ever  expect  to  see  in 
America."  He  was  entertained  at  the  elegant 
residence  of  Miles  Brewton  and  records  a  re- 
markable conversation  which  would  seem  to 
have  forecasted  the  results  of  the  war  between 
the  States  eighty-eight  years  later.  The  same 
house  stands  to-day,  the  finest  survival  of  colo- 
nial architecture  to  be  found  among  the  resi- 
dences in  the  city. 

He  attended  a  concert  of  the  St.  Cecilia 
Society,  where  he  saw  upwards  of  two  hundred 
and  fifty  ladies,  and  he  notes,  with  evident 
wonder,  that  three  members  of  the  permanent 
band  were  employed  at  a  salary  of  five  hun- 
dred guineas  a  year,  and  another  musician  was 
occasionally  employed  at  fifty  guineas  a  month. 
His  description  of  the  St.  Cecilia  concert  is 
brief,  but  the  longest  that  has  ever  appeared 
in  print. 

This  society,  one  hundred  and  thirty-five 
years  old,  the  oldest  "  dancing  club "  on  the 
continent,  is  in  active  operation  to-day,  though 
the  musical  feature  has  long  since  disap- 
peared.     Now,  as   in  Ouincy's  time,  admission 


Charleston  261 

to  one  of  its  three  annual  entertainments  can- 
not be  bought  for  any  sum,  but  gives  a  gentle- 
man the  open  sesame  to  the  most  exclusive 
social  circle  in  the  United  States.  Some,  even 
of  those  who  are  connected  with  it  and  others 
whose  qualifications  for  membership  are  indis- 
putable, regard  this  ancient  society  as  an 
anachronism,  but  Charleston  has  many  an- 
achronisms. The  South  Carolina  law  which 
declares  the  marriage  tie  indissoluble  for  any 
cause  is  perhaps  regarded  as  an  anachro- 
nism, not  only  in  Chicago,  but  in  every  city  and 
State  in  the  Union,  and  the  unwritten  law 
which  prohibits  and  has,  so  far,  prevented  the 
publication  of  any  report  of  a  St.  Cecilia  ball 
in  the  public  prints  would  doubtless  excite  de- 
risive laughter  from  every  "  Society  Reporter  " 
in  this  country  except  those  of  Charleston. 
The  invitation  list  of  the  St.  Cecilia  Society  is 
the  Almanach  de  Gotha  of  Charleston  society. 
Once  the  name  of  a  lady  is  entered  upon  it,  that 
name  is  never  taken  off  unless  the  lady  dies  or 
marries  out  of  the  charmed  circle,  or  out  of  the 
city. 

Isolated  from  other  English  colonies  by  a 
wide  region  of  forest,  the  Charlestonians,  with 
Spaniards  to  the  south  and  Indians  to  the  west 


262  Charleston 

of  them,  and  with  Cape  Hatteras  as  a  menace 
to  commerce  with  the  North  Atlantic  seaboard, 
were  compelled  from  the  first  to  think  and  act 
for  themselves.  In  1698,  they  made  the  first 
attempt  to  form  a  public  library  ;  in  i  735,  they 
organized  the  "  Friendly  Society,"  their  first 
insurance  company;  and  as  early  as  1774  a 
Chamber  of  Commerce  was  established  in 
Charleston.  They  made  in  1 764  the  second 
attempt  in  the  colonies  to  provide  for  the  care 
of  the  insane. 

At  the  opening  of  the  war  of  the  Revolution 
Charleston  was  one  of  the  three  leadincr  sea- 
ports  of  the  country.  Apart  from  its  strategic 
value  and  as  a  base  of  supplies,  the  British 
government  doubtless  desired  especially  to 
punish  the  rebels  of  one  of  the  most  favored 
colonies,  which  by  bounties  on  indigo  and 
otherwise  had  been  most  generously  treated 
by  the  mother  country.  There  were  many 
Charlestonians  who  were  loyal  to  the  King 
and  who  fought  for  England  durinof  the  Revo- 
lution,  sundering  family  ties,  and,  some  of  them, 
self-exiled  like  Bull  and  Moultrie,  eventually 
dying  in  London.  The  presence  of  these  loyal 
adherents  of  the  King  only  served  to  heighten 
the   intensity  of  those  who  were   anxious  to 


264  Charleston 

unite  the  colonies,  and,  as  a  consequence,  as 
far  back  as  1765,  South  Carolina  took  the  first 
steps  toward  a  continental  union  before  the 
measure  had  been  agreed  upon  by  any  colony 
south  of  New  England.  "  Massachusetts," 
says  Bancroft,  "sounded  the  trumpet,  but  to 
South  Carolina  is  it  owing  that  it  was  attended 
to.  Had  it  not  been  for  South  Carolina,  no 
congress  would  then  have  happened."  The 
first  independent  constitution  in  any  of  the 
colonies  was  that  of  South  Carolina,  formulated 
in  Charleston  in  March,  1776,  though  the 
Colony  had  had  a  virtually  independent  govern- 
ment from  the  6th  of  July,  1774. 

"  On  the  I  ith  of  January,  1775,"  says  Simms, 
"  the  first  Revolutionary  provincial  Congress 
met  and  laid  the  foundation  for  the  more  re- 
gular meeting  of  the  convention  of  March,  1 776, 
by  which  the  first  constitution  of  South  Carolina 
was  formed." 

On  June  28,  1776,  Charleston  was  besieged 
by  a  British  fleet  under  Sir  Peter  Parker,  as 
well  as  by  a  land  army,  under  Sir  Henry 
Clinton,  and  the  first  great  victory  of  the 
Revolution  was  won  by  the  gallant  General 
Moultrie.  The  military  student  will  tell  you 
that  Sir  Peter  Parker  could  easily  have  run  his 


266  Charleston 

great  fleet  past  the  palmetto  fort  on  Sullivan's 
Island,  and  that  he  met  disaster  and  defeat  by 
following  a  military  rule  of  that  day, — never  to 
leave  an  enemy  in  a  fortified  post  behind  you. 
It  is  interesting  to  know  that  the  twenty-four 
pounder,  the  largest  ball  in  use  at  the  battle  of 
Fort  Moultrie,  was  the  smallest  in  use  during 
the  sieee  of  Charleston  in  the  war  between 
the  States. 

The  devoted  city  was  again  besieged  in  1779 
by  the  British  under  General  Augustine  Pro- 
vost, and  was  again  successfully  defended. 

The  third  siege  by  the  British  was  success- 
ful and  the  city  was  surrendered  on  the  12th 
of  May,  1 780,  after  a  siege  of  four  months  and 
heavy  bombardment.  It  was  held  by  the 
British  under  military  rule  until  evacuated  by 
them  December  14,  1782.  General  William 
Moultrie  in  his  Memoirs  thus  describes  the 
reoccupation  of  the  city  by  the  American 
forces  : 

"  I  cannot  forget  that  happy  day  when  we  marched  in- 
to Charlestown  with  the  American  troops  ;  it  was  a  proud 
day  to  me,  and  I  felt  myself  much  elated  at  seemg  the 
balconies,  the  doors  and  windows  crowded  with  the 
patriotic  fair,  the  aged  citizens  and  others  congratulat- 
ing us  on    our   return    home,    saying,  '  God    bless    you 


Charleston  267 

gentlemen  !    You  are  welcome  home  gentlemen  !  '    Both 
citizens  and  soldiers  shed  mutual  tears  of  joy." 

The  Duke  La  Rochefoucault-Liancourt,  who 
visited  the  United  Sates  in  1796,  after  the 
Revokition,  when  the  people  had  in  great 
measure  recovered  from  its  effects,  was  as 
extravagant  in  his  praise  of  the  people  of 
Charleston  as  Josiah  Ouincy  had  been.  The 
enthusiastic  Frenchman  wrote  : 

"  I  cannot  close  this  long  article  on  South  Carolina 
without  mentioning  with  deserved  praise  the  kind 
reception  I  experienced  in  Charleston.  This  is  a  duty 
which  I  owe  to  the  inhabitants  of  all  the  parts  of  Amer- 
ica which  I  have  traversed,  but  especially  to  this  place. 
In  no  town  of  the  United  States  does  a  foreigner  experi- 
ence more  benevolence  or  find  more  entertaining  society 
than  in  Charleston.  .  .  .  They  keep  a  greater  number 
of  servants  than  those  of  Philadelphia.  From  the  hour 
of  four  in  the  afternoon,  they  rarely  think  of  aught  but 
pleasure  and  amusement.  .  .  .  Many  of  the  inhabi- 
tants of  South  Carolina  having  been  in  Europe,  have  in 
consequence  acquired  a  greater  knowledge  of  our 
manners  and  a  stronger  partiality  to  them  than  the 
people  of  the  Northern  States.  Consequently  the 
European  modes  of  life  are  here  more  prevalent.  The 
women  here  are  more  lovely  than  in  the  North.  They 
are  interesting  and  agreeable  but  not  quite  so  handsome 
as  those  of  Philadelphia.  They  have  a  greater  share  in 
the  commerce  of  society  without  retaining  for  this  the 
loss  of  modesty  and  delicate  propriety  in  their  behavior." 


268  Charleston 

Time  does  not  appear  to  have  chano^ed  the 
character  of  the  people  or  their  social  amenities, 
for,  in  1836,  an  Englishman,  the  Honorable 
Charles  Augustus  Murray,  writes  : 

"  A  gentleman  must  be  very  difficult  to  please  if  he 
does  not  find  Charleston  society  agreeable  ;  there  is  some- 
thing warm,  frank  and  courteous  in  the  manner  of  a  real 
Carolinian  ;  he  is  not  studiously,  but  naturally  polite  ; 
and  though  his  character  may  not  be  remarkable  for  that 
persevering  industry  and  close  attention  to  minutiae  in 
business  which  are  so  remarkable  in  the  New  England 
merchants,  he  is  far  from  deficient  in  sagacity,  courage 
or  enterprise." 

One  characteristic  of  the  Charleston  women 
which  still  abides  with  them  is  noted  by  Mr. 
Murray,  who  says  : 

"  They  are  pretty,  agreeable  and  intelligent,  and  in 
one  respect  have  an  advantage  over  most  of  their 
Northern  sisters — (if  the  judge  is  to  be  a  person  accus- 
tomed to  English  society) — I  mean  as  regards  voice  ; 
they  have  not  that  particular  intonation  which  I  have 
remarked  elsewhere,  and  which  must  have  struck  every 
stranger  who  has  visited  the  other  Atlantic  cities." 

There  was  little  of  the  Puritanical  element 
in  the  thriving  capital  of  South  Carolina. 
Many  of  its  citizens  had  frequented,  in  their 
college  days,  the  pit  of  Drury  Lane  or  Covent 


Charleston  269 

Garden,  others  who  had  come  as  adventurers 
had  found  the  fortunes  they  sought,  and  an 
important  element  of  the  population  was  that 
strain  of  Huofuenot  blood  from  which  Calvin- 
ism  had  not  eradicated  the  joie  cie  vivre  in- 
herent in  the  Frenchman. 

William  Dunlap,  the  first  and  most  pains- 
taking of  the  historians  of  the  American  stage, 
states  that  the  first  dramatic  performance  ever 
given  in  America  was  in  Williamsburg,  Va., 
where  a  theatre  was  opened  on  September  5, 
1752,  and  this  date  was  generally  accepted  as 
correct,  and  the  centennial  of  the  introduction 
of  the  drama  in  America  was  celebrated  with 
all  the  honors  at  Castle  Garden,  New  York,  a 
hundred  years  later. 

Later  investigators  claim  that  New  York 
was  treated  to  a  performance  by  professionals 
in  September,  1732,  and  that  Addison's  Cato 
was  rendered  in  Philadelphia  by  a  regular 
company  as  early  as  i  749.  The  South  Caro- 
lina Gazette  for  January  18,  1734,  has  the 
followinor  advertisement : 

o 

"  On  Friday,  the  24th  instant,  in  the  Court  Room, 
will  be  attempted  a  tragedy  called  '  The  Orphan  or  the 
Unhappy  Marriage.'  Tickets  will  be  delivered  out  on 
Tuesday  next,  at  Mr  Shepheard's  at  40s  each." 


270  Charleston 

That  this  was  probably  a  success  is  proved 
by  its  repetition  on  the  Charleston  boards  on 
January  28th,  and  again  February  4th,  with 
the  addition  of  "  A  new  pantomime  entertain- 
ment in  grotesque  characters  called  '  The  Ad- 
ventures of  Harlequin  and  Scaremouch,  with 
the  Burgo- Master  Trick'd.'  " 

No  city  on  the  continent  had  a  higher 
standard  of  scholarship  a  few  decades  before 
and  after  the  Revolution  of  1776. 

Many  of  its  leading  citizens  had  been  edu- 
cated at  the  Encjlish  universities,  and  broutrht 
and  established  here  the  literary  tastes  and 
pursuits  which  had  been  contracted  in  those 
then  grreatest  seats  of  learning  in  the  world. 
South  Carolina  headed  all  the  colonies  in  the 
list  of  the  London  Inns  of  Court,  and  up  to 
the  time  of  the  Revolution  had  forty-five 
representatives  out  of  the  one  hundred  and 
fourteen  American  students  of  the  "lawless 
science  of  the  law." 

Among  other  Carolina  youth  who  were 
sent  to  England  to  complete  their  educa- 
tion were  Arthur  Middleton,  Thomas  Hey- 
ward,  Thomas  Lynch,  Jr.  (three  of  the  signers 
of  the  Declaration  of  Independence),  John 
and  Hugh  Rutledge,  C  C.  Pinckney,  Thomas 


Charleston  271 

Pin-ckney,  W.  H.  Drayton,  Christopher  Gads- 
den Henry  Laurens,  John  Laurens,  Gabriel 
Mani-ault,  WilUam  Wragg  and  John  Fouche- 
raud  Grimke.  All  of  these  gentlemen,  except 
one,  William  Wragg,  were  military  and  civil 
leaders   in   the   Revolution. 

Mr.  Wragg,  who  was  loyal  to  the  King,  was 
at  first  confined  to  the  limits  of  his  plantation, 
"The  Barony,"  as  it  was  then  styled,  and  finally 
expatriated  by  order  of  the  patriot  Council  of 
Safety.      He  went  to  England  never  to  return, 
and  up  to  our  own  day  he  was  the  only  Amer- 
ican whose  name  was  commemorated  in  West- 
minster   Abbey.       Many  Charlestonians  were 
wealthy    enough  to  travel  through  Europe  as 
gentlemen  of  leisure,  and  one  of  them,  Ralph 
Izard,  maintained  an  establishment  in  London 
and    travelled    through    France,    Italy    and   a 
part  of  Germany. 

While  the  pursuit  of  cuhure  for  its  own  sake 
is  an  evidence  of  a  highly  enlightened  civiliza- 
tion, it  is  unfortunate  that  the  intellectual 
coterie  of  Charleston  and  the  neighboring 
parishes  left  so  little,  comparatively,  to  pos- 
terity. Perhaps  their  most  notable  productions 
durino-  the  last  century  were  the  novels  of  Rich- 
ard  Beresford  and    The  First   Comprehensive 


ZJZ 


Charleston 


Theory  of  Dew,  by  William  Charles  Wells, 
both  of  whom,  however,  left  their  native  State 
and  lived  and  wrote  in  England.  Both  Darwin 
and  Tyndall  pay  hearty  tribute  to  the  abil- 
ity and  scientific  discoveries  of  Wells,  whose  pa- 
per on  the  theory  of  natural  selection  furnished 
the  groundwork  for  many  scientists  of  our  day. 
Other  works  of  South  Carolinians  of  the  last 
century  were  the  histories  of  Ramsay  and 
Drayton,  the  military  memoirs  of  Moultrie 
and  the  political  memoirs  of  Drayton,  the 
Flora  Caroliniana  of  the  botanist  Walter,  a 
few  brochures  of  indifferent  poems  and  some 
occasional  plays,  two  of  which  were  selected 
b\'  the  Dublin  University  Magazine  as  the 
subject  of  ridicule  in  an  article  on  the  "  Begin- 
nings of  the  American  Drama." 

The  Augustan  Age,  if  we  may  apply  such  a 
term  to  the  insignificant  South  Carolina  litera- 
ture, was  early  in  the  thirties,  when  Hugh  S. 
Legare,  Stephen  Elliott  and  other  kindred 
spirits  founded  at  Charleston  the  Sonthern 
Review,  which,  while  it  continued  to  exist,  "  had 
a  more  brilliant  reputation  than  any  like  pub- 
lication ever  obtained  in  this  country." 

A  little  later  there  was  a  coterie  of  special- 
ists in  natural  history,  such  as  Bachman,  the 


Charleston  273 

natural  historian,  Holbrook,  the  herpetologist 
and  icthyologist,  John  Lawrence  Smith,  min- 
eralogist, the  two  Ravenels,  McCrady,  Gibbes, 
Porcher  and  others. 

Agassiz  found  very  congenial  friends  here 
and  lent  invaluable  aid  to  the  Museum  of  the 
College  of  Charleston,  and  Audubon  published 
jointly  with  Bachman  The  Quadrttpeds  of 
North  A^nerica,  the  figures  by  Audubon,  the 
text  by  Bachman. 

Dr.  John  Lawrence  Smith  is  probably  as 
well  known  in  Europe  as  in  America.  He  was 
employed  by  the  Turkish  government  to  ex- 
plore its  mineral  resources.  He  received  two 
decorations  from  the  Sublime  Porte,  the  order 
of  St.  Stanislaus  from  Russia  and  the  cross  of 
the  Legion  of  Honor  from  Napoleon  HL,  and 
succeeded  Sir  Charles  Lyell  as  member  of  the 
French  Institute.  He  was  also  the  inventor 
of  the  inverted  microscope. 

Simms,  the  novelist  and  poet,  and  Paul 
Hamilton  Hayne  and  Henry  Timrod,  the  poets, 
are  the  three  Charlestonians  whose  names  are 
best  known  to  the  world  of  letters.  Their 
memory  will  be  cherished  more  and  more  at  the 
home  of  their  birth,  as  wealth  increases,  and  all 
the  effects  of  the  fierce  struggle  for  existence 


2  74  Charleston 

which  followed  war  and  reconstruction  have 
disappeared.  The  enthusiastic  reception  and 
rapid  sale  of  the  recently  published  memo- 
rial edition  of  Timrod's  poems  is  a  hopeful 
siun  of  reawakened  interest  in  the  sweetest 
love  poems  and  most  stirring  martial  lyrics 
ever  penned  by  a  Southern  poet. 

No  great  artist  first  saw  the  light  in  Charles- 
ton, but  the  city  boasts  of  several  of  more  than 
mediocre  ability.  Early  in  the  eighteenth 
century  Henrietta  Johnson  executed  a  number 
of  crayon  portraits  which  are  still  treasured  by 
some  of  the  old  families.  Portrait  painting 
was  indeed  almost  the  only  branch  of  art 
encouraged  for  over  one  hundred  years,  the 
local  portrait  painter  Theus  having  opened  his 
studio  in  Charleston  in  1750,  and  done  much 
excellent  work,  some  of  which  is  still  extant. 
But  if  there  were  no  great  painters  at  home, 
the  wealthy  Charlestonians  brought  back  art 
treasures  from  Europe,  and  some  of  their 
stately  homes  were  beautified  by  works  of 
Allan  Ramsay,  Zoffany,  Romney,  Gains- 
borough, West,  Copley  and  Gilbert  Stuart. 

"  The  pride  though  of  the  art  lovers  of  Charleston," 
says  Dr.  G.  E.  Manigault,  "  in  the  closing  years  of  the 
last  century  as  well  as  the  early  years  of  this,  was  in  the 


Charleston  275 

miniatures  on  ivory  by  Edward  Malbone,  who  ranks  as 
having  been  the  greatest  of  American  miniaturists.  He 
.  .  .  first  opened  a  studio  here  in  1800,  where  he 
probably  painted  more  portraits  than  in  any  other  city. 
Our  own  miniaturist,  Charles  Fraser,  should  also  be  men- 
tioned with  him.  He  executed  over  300  portraits  dur- 
a  long  life  and  while  there  is  not  the  same  uniform 
excellence  in  them  all  as  in  those  of  Malbone,  his  mas- 
ter-pieces certainly  entitle  him  to  a  high  rank  in  his  art." 

Washington  Allston  spent  several  years  in 
Charleston,  where  were  many  of  his  relatives, 
whose  descendants  still  possess  several  of  his 
paintings. 

"  Saint  Memin,  limner,"  is  one  of  the  names 
to  be  found  in  the  Charleston  City  Directory 
for  1809 ;  but  few  of  the  original  crayon  draw- 
ings and  copper  plates  of  that  industrious 
French  gentleman  have  escaped  the  tooth  of 
time.  Louis  R.  Mignot,  the  son  of  a  French 
confectioner,  Avas  the  only  landscape  painter 
from  Charleston  whose  ability  is  recognized 
in  Europe.  S.  G.  W.  Benjamin  considers  him 
one  of  the  most  remarkable  artists  of  our 
country  and  says  that  he  was  equally  happy 
in  rendering  the  various  aspects  of  nature, 
"whether  it  was  the  superb  splendor  of  the 
tropical  scenery  of  the  Rio  Bamba  in  South 
America,     the    sublime    maddening    rush    of 


2/6  Charleston 

iris-circied  water  at  Niagara,  or  the  fairy-like 
grace,  the  exquisite  and  ethereal  loveliness  of 
new-fallen  snow." 

The  only  living  Charlestonian  known  to  the 
art  world  is  the  artist-author  Rufus  Fairchild 
Zogbaum,  who  was  born  in  August,  1849,  ^^^^^ 
educated  at  the  Art  Students'  League  in  New 
York  and  studied  under  Donnat  in  Paris.  He 
is  still  in  the  heyday  of  his  powers,  and  has 
no  superior  in  the  United  States  as  a  delineator 
of  military  and  naval  subjects. 

The  economic  and  commercial  history  of  the 
city,  while  not  so  eventful  or  of  so  absorbing 
interest  as  its  military  and  civil  annals,  cannot 
be  entirely  overlooked.  One  crop  which  is  not 
now  cultivated  in  the  State,  but  which  once 
enriched  the  people  of  the  planter  city,  was 
first  cultivated  by  a  woman,  Eliza  Lucas,  the 
accomplished  daughter  of  Colonel  Lucas, 
Governor  of  Antigua,  one  of  the  Leeward 
Islands,  and  afterward  the  mother  of  General 
Charles  Cotesworth  Pinckney  and  General 
Thomas  Pinckney,  of  South  Carolina.  With 
seed  sent  her  by  her  father.  Miss  Lucas,  in 
1741-42,  planted  the  first  indigo  in  South 
Carolina.  In  1748,  Parliament  passed  an  act 
allowing  a  bounty  of  sixpence  per  pound,  and 


Charleston  277 

just  before  the  Revolution  the  export  from 
Charleston  had  risen  to  1,107,660  pounds. 

The  cultivation  of  rice  was  one  of  the  earliest 
planting  experiments  in  the  State,  and  though 
Ramsay,  the  historian,  attributes  its  introduc- 
tion to  Governor  Thomas  Smith  and  a  small 
bag  of  seed  procured  from  Madagascar  in  1 694, 
it  is  certain  that  rice  had  been  successfully 
grown  in  South  Carolina  as  early  as  1691.  In 
1770,  the  surplus  over  consumption  exported 
from  Charleston  had  risen  to  120,000  barrels, 
valued  at  $1,530,000. 

As  early  as  1770,  "patches"  of  cotton  were 
grown  in  South  Carolina,  and  year  by  year 
thereafter  for  two  decades  indigo  cultivation 
declined,  and  was  finally  entirely  abandoned. 

"In  1784,"  says  the  Hon.  W.  A.  Courtenay,  the  city's 
most  accomplished  and  enthusiastic  historian,  "  John 
Teasdale,  a  merchant  of  Charleston,  shipped  from  this 
city  to  J.  and  J.  Teasdale,  Liverpool,  eight  bags  of 
cotton.  When  the  vessel  arrived  out  the  laughable 
incident  occurred  of  the  cotton  being  seized  on  the 
ground  that  it  could  not  be  grown  in  America.  Upon 
satisfactory  proof,  which  had  to  be  furnished,  it  was  re- 
leased. This  cotton  shipment  was  the  first  ever  made 
from  the  United  States  to  a  European  port  !  " 

Though  slavery  is  commonly  supposed  to 
have  rendered  those  livincr  under  its  debasing 


278  Charleston 

influence  inert  and  slow  to  enter  upon  great 
commercial  enterprises,  it  is  remarkable  that 
Charleston  merchants  and  planters  planned  and 
successfully  constructed  the  earliest  great 
railroad  line  in  America.      Mr.  Courtenay  says  : 

"While  the  Liverpool  and  Manchester  Railroad  was 
being  constructed  in  1829,  under  Stephenson's  direction, 
and  Baltimore  was  reaching  out  to  the  Ohio  River, 
Charleston  was  projecting  a  railroad  to  the  head  of 
navigation  on  the  Savannah  River,  which  when  completed 
was  the  longest  railroad  in  the  World." ' 

In  the  royal  grants  of  land  in  Carolina  the 
Crown  reserved  an  interest  in  all  precious  and 
base  metals,  and  some  of  the  grants  reserved 
for  the  King  a  share  of  the  diamonds  and 
precious  stones  which  avarice  rather  than 
common  sense  suggested  might  underlie  tide- 
water South  Carolina.  Geologists  and  lawyers 
lauorhed  at  the  idea  of  precious  stones  in 
marshes  and  sand  dunes,  though  there  had  been 

'The  crude  rules  for  passenger  transportation  in  "the  thirties" 
read  strangely  to  the  traveller  who  almost  annihilates  time  and  space 
in  the  modern  "vestibule  train,"  at  the  rate  of  sixty  miles  or  more 
an  hour.  An  early  resolution  of  the  South  Carolina  Railroad 
Board  of  Directors  declares  that  there  shall  be  "in  future  not  over 
twenty-five  passengers  to  any  car  ;  speed  shall  not  exceed  one  car 
and  passengers  at  fifteen  miles  per  hour  ;  two  cars  and  passengers  at 
twelve  miles  per  hour  ;  three  cars  and  passengers  at  ten  miles  per 
hour." 


Charleston 


279 


"  black  diamonds"  there  for  thousands  of  years. 
It  was  not  until  after  the  war  between  the 
States  that  Dr.  St.  Julien  Ravenel's  discovery 
of  the  commercial  vahie  of  the  immense  phos- 
phate deposits  brought  wealth  and  prosperity 


PHILADELPHIA  STREET    (COON  ALLEY). 

SCENE    IN    REAR    OF    ST.    PHILIP'S    CHURCH. 

to  many  whose  needs  were  the  greatest.  The 
fertilizer  business  then  established  is  still  in 
successful  operation  and  Charleston  continues 
to  be  the  largest  phosphate  shipping  port  in 
the  world. 

Of   the  war  between   the   States   it   is    not 


28o  Charleston 

necessary  to  write  at  length.  Whether  one 
reo["ards  "  the  firincr  of  the  first  irun  on  Fort 
Sumter  as  the  first  rash  act  of  a  wild  and  fatal 
delusion,"  or  as  the  betrinninor  of  the  greatest 
war  in  modern  times  for  constitutional  liberty 
and  against  the  lust  for  power  and  territorial 
domination,  no  fair  man  can  deny  the  heroism 
against  unnumbered  odds  displayed  by  the 
Confederate  soldiers. 

It  would  be  interesting  to  quote  the  opinion 
of  Lord  Wolseley  as  to  the  value  of  the  study 
of  the  siege  of  Charleston  in  its  tactical  fea- 
tures as  compared  with  the  siege  of  Sebasto- 
pol  and  other  great  naval  attacks.  All  the 
world  wondered  at  the  marvellous  success  of 
the  blockade  runners,  and  the  pages  of  history 
may  be  searched  in  vain  for  greater  heroism 
than  that  displayed  by  Glassell,  Dixon  and 
others  who  first  proved  to  the  world  the  value 
of  the  torpedo  in  naval  warfare  ;  but  let  two 
sets  of  figures  sufifice  : 

GENERAL  SUMMARY  FORT  SUMTER,  FEBRUARY 
I,  1 86s. 

Total  number  of  projectiles  fired  against  it. . .  .  46,053 
Total  weight  in  tons  of  metal  thrown  (estimate)  3,5°° 
Total  number  of  days  under  three  great  bom- 
bardments   117 


282  Charleston 

Total  number  of  days  under  eight  minor  bom- 
bardments   40 

Total  number  of    days  under  fire,  steady  and 

desultory 280 

Total    number   of     casualties    (52    killed,    267 

wounded) 319 

Charleston  with  a  white  population  of  24,000 
furnished  twenty-three  companies  of  infantry, 
eleven  of  artillery  and  eight  of  cavalry  to  the 
Confederate  armies. 

The  comments  of  a  British  officer  and  of  two 
officers  who  served  in  the  Federal  army  as  to 
the  extraordinary  defence  of  Charleston  are 
submitted  ;  —  for  one  born  and  reared  in  sight 
of  Fort  Sumter,  and  as  a  child  carried  away 
from  the  city  to  escape  the  shells  from  the 
"  Swamp  Angel "  on  Morris  Island,  cannot 
write  of  his  people  sine  ira  ct  studio. 

Col.  H.  Wemyss  Feilden,  colonel  and 
chief  paymaster  (retired  list),  H.  B.  M.  Army 
says  : 

"We  find  a  large  commercial  city,  at  the  commencement 
of  a  great  war  defended  by  nearly  obsolete  works  and 
with  several  unguarded  approaches,  rendered  impreg- 
nable in  a  short  time  by  the  skill  and  genius  of  the 
general  in  command,  supported  by  the  indomitable 
valor,  devotion  and  tenacity  of  its  defenders,  and  by  the 


Charleston  28 


3 


unflinching   spirit    of  all    ages    and    both    sexes    in    the 
community." 

Quartermaster- General  M.  C.  Meigs,  U. 
S.  A.,  in  an  adverse  report  to  Secretary  of 
War  Stanton,  in  August,  1865,  upon  the  peti- 
tion of  various  merchants  and  wharf  owners  of 
Charleston,  asking  that  their  warehouses  and 
wharves  in  the  possession  of  the  government 
be  restored  to  them,  says  : 

"  Charleston  was  a  hostile  fortress.  In  its  defence  the 
merchants  and  property  owners  appear  to  have  aided  by 
all  means  within  their  power.  Its  defence  ceased  only 
when,  after  a  siege  almost  unexampled  since  the  inven- 
tion of  artillery,  for  duration  and  persistency,  the  ap- 
proach of  a  powerful  army  from  the  Mississippi  Valley 
rendered  any  further  resistance  entirely  hopeless.  Then 
the  armed  Rebel  forces  abandoned  the  town,  destroying 
such  stores  as  they  could.  There  was  no  capitulation, 
no  surrender  by  which  any  of  the  extreme  rights  of  cap- 
tors were  modified  or  abated  in  the  giving  up  of  an 
equivalent.  The  place  was  defended  to  the  last  extrem- 
ity, and  the  whole  town  is  a  conquest,  and  as  such  the 
property  of  the  conquering  Government.  .  .  .  The 
warehouses  and  wharves  used  in  the  contraband  trade, 
in  violation  of  the  laws  and  proclamations  of  the  United 
States,  have  been  used  in  aid  of  the  Rebellion. 
To  put  an  end  to  this  use,  to  obtain  possession  of  them, 
has  cost  the  United  States  the  lives  of  many  thousand 
of  patriotic  citizens  sacrificed  in  the  skirmishes,  assaults, 


284  Charleston 

battles  and  bombardments  which  have  made  the  bloody 
record  of  tliis  unexampled  siege.  Shells  and  torpedoes, 
by  land  and  by  water,  have  destroyed  our  citizens.  .  .  . 
To  restore  this  property,  which  cost  the  loyal  people  so 
much  blood,  and  so  much  treasure,  to  the  original  dis- 
loyal owners  would,  it  seems  to  me,  give  a  shock  to  every 
earnest  and  lowil  man.  Far  better  give  the  property  to 
the  families  and  heirs  of  the  victims  of  the  massacre  of 
Wagner,  or  of  those  who  perished  upon  the  monitors 
sunk  by  the  agents  of  the  Torpedo  Bureau  in  Charleston 
Harbor." 

It  only  remains  to  say  that  President 
Andrew  Johnson  did  not  share  the  views  of 
Quartermaster-General  Meigs  and  that  the 
property  was  restored  to  the  claimants. 

Ex-Governor  D.  H.  Chamberlain,  formerly 
an  officer  in  the  Union  army,  speaking  to  a 
representative  young  Virginian — a  great-grand- 
son of  Chief  Justice  Marshall — in  Charleston 
a  few  days  ago,  said  : 

"When  I  walk  the  streets  of  this  city  of  65,000  inhab- 
itants, and  more  than  half  of  them  colored,  and  when  I 
see  the  poverty  of  its  material  resources  as  compared  with 
the  large  and  flourishing  business  centres  of  the  North, 
and  when  I  remember  that  the  population  of  this  city  in 
1 86 1  was  not  over  41,000,  of  which  not  over  24,000  were 
"white,  I  marvel  at  the  blind  confidence  and  fatuity  of  this 
people  in  inaugurating  the  most  tremendous  war  of  mod- 
ern  times  ;  but  when   1   walk  along  the  sea  wall  of  the 


MAJOR-GENERAL  WILLIAM  MOULTRIE. 

FROM    A    PAINTING    BY    COL.    J.    TRUMBULL. 


285 


286  Charleston 

'  Battery  '  and  see  in  the  distance  Fort  Sumter  and  Fort 
Moultrie  and  other  fortifications  which,  though  often  at- 
tacked, were  never  carried  by  storm,  I  begin  to  under- 
stand the  wonderful  spirit  of  this  people.  Charlestonians 
held  this  stronghold  for  four  years  against  the  most 
powerful  fleet  of  war  vessels  ever  seen  up  to  that  time  on 
this  hemisphere." 

Disastrous  fires  have  destroyed  many  of  the 
historic  landmarks  of  the  town,  and  the  most 
interesting  public  building  still  standing  is  the 
Colonial  Exchange,  built  in  1771,  at  a  cost  of 
^41,470.  In  its  basement  Colonel  Isaac  Hayne 
and  other  patriot  prisoners  were  confined,  and 
here  General  Moultrie  walled  up  one  hundred 
thousand  pounds  of  gunpowder,  which  re- 
mained undiscovered  during  the  three  years 
that  the  British  held  the  town.  It  was  the 
scene  of  a  ball  and  public  reception  in  honor  of 
General  Washinofton  when  he  visited  Charles- 
ton  after  the  Revolution,  and  was  used  as  the 
Post-Ofiice  from  i  783  until  the  construction  of 
the  new  granite  Post-Office,  in  Italian  Renais- 
sance style,  during  the  last  decade. 

Of  the  first  St.  Philip's  Church,  built  on  the 
present  site,  Edmund  Burke  said  that  it  "  is 
spacious,  and  executed  in  a  very  handsome 
taste,  exceeding  everything  of  that  kind  which 


Charleston  287 

we  have  in  America,"  and  another  author  (the 
biographer  of  Whitefield)  called  it  "  a  grand 
church  resembling  one  of  the  new  Churches  in 
London."  That  building  was  constructed  in 
1723  and  was  the  leading  church  in  the  State 
until  its  destruction  in  the  great  fire  of  1835. 
The  architectural  proportions  and  beauty  of 
the  present  St.  Philip's  Church, — with  its 
lofty  steeple  reaching  to  a  height  of  nearly  two 
hundred  feet,  from  which  shines  at  night  a 
beacon  light  to  mariners  far  away  at  sea, — 
"though  perhaps  peculiar  to  themselves,  com- 
mand the  instant  admiration  of  every  beholder, 
professional  or  otherwise." 

No  visitor  to  Charleston  fails  to  visit  St. 
Michael's  Church,  the  finest  piece  of  colonial 
ecclesiastical  architecture  in  the  South,  and 
which  was  first  opened  for  divine  service  in 
1 76 1.  The  story  of  its  chime  of  bells  attracts 
the  stranger  and  makes  the  bells  doubly  dear 
to  all  born  within  the  shadow  of  the  lofty  tower. 
They  never  jangled  out  of  tune,  except  on  the 
eventful  night  of  August  31,  1886,  when  the 
steeple  was  swayed  by  the  earthquake.  In 
1782,  Major  Traille,  of  the  Royal  Artillery, 
took  possession  of  the  bells  as  spoils  of  war 
and  sent  them  back  to  England,  but  the  next 


288  Charleston 

year  they  were  repurchased  by  a  Mr.  Rhyner 
and  sent  back  to  Charleston,  where  they  con- 
tinued to  voice  the  people's  joy  or  woe  until 
the  war  between  the  States,  when  they  were 
sent  to  Columbia  for  safe  keeping.  When 
General  Sherman  burned  that  city  in  1865,  two 
of  the  bells  were  stolen  and  the  rest  were  so 
injured  as  to  be  useless.  Once  again  the  bells 
were  shipped  to  England,  where  they  were  re- 
cast by  the  successors  of  the  firm  which  had 
made  them  in  1 764,  from  the  same  patterns, 
and  again  returned  to  Charleston  and  replaced 
in  the  belfry  on  March  21,  1867. 

The  church  has  been  commemorated  in  the 
popular  lyric  of  Mrs.  Stansberry,  Hoiu  he 
Saved  St.  Michacrs,  though  as  a  matter  of  fact 
it  was  the  spire  of  St.  Philip's  that  was  saved 
from  fire  by  an  heroic  negro.  Tim.rod,  during 
the  war  between  the  States,  refers  to  the  church 
in  one  of  his  tenderest  poems  entitled,  Christ- 
mas, and  Simms,  when  the  steeple  was  made 
a  target  for  Federal  guns,  published  his  pas- 
sionate lines  beginning  : 

"Aye,  strike  with  sacrificial  aim, 
The  temple  of  the  living  God, 
Hurl  iron  bolt  and  seething  flame 
Through  aisles  which  holiest  feet  have  trod'" 


ST.  MICHAEL'S  CHURCH,   CHARLESTON. 


289 


290  Charleston 

From  the  "pigeon  holes,"  the  highest  point 
in  the  tower,  patriots  of  the  Revohition  watched 
the  coming  and  progress  of  the  British  Heets 
of  Parker  and  Arbuthnot,  and  almost  a  century 
later  the  war-ships  of  Dupont  and  Dahlgren 
were  sighted  from  the  same  aerie  long  before 
they  crossed  the  bar. 

Its  congregation  is  so  largely  composed  of 
the  elite  of  Charleston  society  that  a  local 
wit  had  irreverently  called  the  venerable 
structure  "  the  Chapel  of  Ease  of  the  St.  Cecilia 
Society." 

It  is  claimed  that  the  French  Protestant 
(Huguenot)  Church  in  Charleston  is  nearly 
if  not  quite  coeval  in  date  with  the  present 
city.  There  is  some  evidence  that  the  church 
owes  its  origin  to  the  colony  of  French  Pro- 
testants sent  out  to  the  Province  in  1680  by 
Charles  1 1,  of  England.  The  Revocation  of  the 
Edict  of  Nantes  and  the  consequent  Huguenot 
emigration  to  America  in  1685  put  the  church 
on  a  solid  foundation,  though  many  of  the 
Hueuenots  who  came  to  Carolina  settled  at 
Orange  Quarter,  on  the  Santee  River,  at  St. 
John's,  Berkeley,  and  possibly  in  St.  James, 
Goose  Creek.  In  1687,  came  Elias  Prioleau, 
the  first  recognized  and  regular  pastor  of  the 


Charleston  291 

French  Church  in  Charleston.  Two  of  his 
lineal  descendants  are  now  in  the  eldership 
of  the  church.  After  the  fire  of  1  740,  in  which 
the  early  records  of  the  church  were  destroyed, 
the  liturgy  of  Neufchatel  and  Valangin  was 
adopted  and  an  English  translation  of  it  is  still 
in  use. 

In  1845  ^^^^  present  tasteful  Gothic  edifice, 
the  fourth  upon  the  same  site,  was  built,  and 
has  been  in  use  ever  since,  except  during  the 
war  between  the  States. 

In  1858,  before  a  baptism  of  blood  and  fire 
had  put  the  courage  and  tenacity  of  Charles- 
ton to  the  supreme  test,  and  twenty-eight  years 
before  the  memorable  earthquake,  James  L. 
Peticrru,  the  head  of  the  bar  of  Charleston, 
and  President  of  the  Historical  Society  of 
South  Carolina,  said  in  a  public  speech  :  "  Per- 
haps the  opinion  is  tinged  with  partiality  ;  yet, 
after  making  due  allowance  for  such  bias,  I 
think  I  may  say  that  in  the  circle  of  vision 
from  the  belfry  of  St.  Michael's  there  has  been 
as  much  high  thought  spoken,  as  much  heroic 
action  taken,  as  much  patient  endurance  borne 
as  in  any  equal  area  of  land  on  this  Conti- 
nent." 

With  such  a  past,  Charleston  looks  hopefully 


29: 


Charleston 


into  the  future,  confidently  expecting  as  signal 
triumphs  in  the  arts  of  peace  as  her  sons  once 
achieved  against  the  fleets  of  France,  Spain 
and  England. 


coivr>iTAA.; 
>. 

SEAL  OF  CHARLESTON!. 


SAVANNAH 

NEVER  LAST  AND  OFTEN  FIRST 

Bv  PLEASANT  ALEXANDER  STOVALL 

nPHE  city  of  Savannah  is  now  a  centre  of 
^  railroad  and  steamship  Hnes.  It  has  the 
heaviest  commerce  of  all  the  Atlantic  ports 
south  of  Baltimore.  It  is  the  largest  naval 
stores  market  in  the  world,  and  its  cotton 
and  lumber  receipts  are  very  considerable. 
But  in  spite  of  its  commercial  primacy 
Savannah  preserves  a  distinct  flavor  of  the 
olden  time.  On  the  shores  of  the  Savannah 
River,  where  the  British  ships  were  burned  in 
the  Revolution,  a  railroad  system  is  cuttintr 
slips  and  building  piers,  spending  a  million 
dollars  in  terminal  facilities.  The  hieh  bluff 
where  the  early  colonists  planted  their  crane  in 
1732  to  move  goods  from  the  ships  to  the 
river  bank  is  now  walled  in  stone,  and  the 
strand    is    gridironed    with    steel    rails.       The 


293 


294  Savannah 

powder  magazine  near  "  the  Old  Fort,"  after- 
wards seized  by  the  patriots  of  the  Revolution, 
is  the  site  of  flourishing  foundries.  The  fila- 
ture where  early  colonists  were  taught  to 
spin  silk  has  been  dismantled,  and  long  rows 
of  brick  tenements  front  upon  the  sandy 
streets.  The  tall  pines  under  which  Oglethorpe 
pitched  his  tents  survived  the  shock  of  war, 
and  succumbed  only  to  the  sweeping  storms  in 
1800.  To-day  this  site  is  paved  with  brick 
and  Belgian  block,  and  is  the  centre  of  the  Bay, 
where  cotton  and  wholesale  men  do  conere- 
gate.  "  The  publick  oven  "  on  Congress  Street 
stood  opposite  Tondee's  tavern,  where  the  first 
liberty  pole  was  elevated  b)-  the  patriots,  and 
where  a  tablet  has  been  placed  in  the  wall  of  a 
thriving  grocery  store  to  mark  the  birth  of  newer 
freedom.  "  Fort  Halifax,"  the  breastworks 
of  the  "  Liberty  Boys,"  is  now  covered  by  the 
wharves  and  warehouses  of  the  Ocean  Steam- 
ship Company,  the  busiest  spot  in  all  Georgia. 
Spring  Hill  redoubt,  where  Pulaski  died,  is 
lined  by  the  brick  walls  of  the  Georgia  Central 
Railway.  The  executive  mansion  of  Sir  James 
Wright,  the  last  royal  Governor,  stood  where 
the  United  States  has  just  finished  its  mar- 
ble post  office,  perhaps  the  handsomest  public 


THE    POST  OFFICE. 


295 


296  Savannah 

building-  in  the  country,  with  the  exception  of 
the  Congressional  Library. 

In  spite  of  all  these  changes,  Savannah  has 
followed  the  original  lines  laid  down  by  Ogle- 
thorpe. The  lots  are  still  sixty  by  ninety  feet, 
flanked  front  and  rear  by  open  streets.  The 
public  squares  which  marked  the  city  at  con- 
venient distances,  used  by  the  early  settlers  as 
camp-grounds  and  corrals  in  cases  of  military 
alarm,  are  to-day  verdant  and  fresh  with  bc^ds 
of  flowers  and  spraying  fountains,  and  dotted 
by  historic  monuments.  "  The  tint  of  antiqui- 
ty "  still  rests  upon  its  walls.  Now  and  then 
the  white  mulberry,  where  the  silkworm  fed 
in  the  eighteenth  century,  crops  out  and  shows 
its  familiar  leaves  along  the  streets,  and  the 
house  of  General  Lachlan  Mcintosh,  where  the 
Legislature  met  in  1 782,  on  South  Broad  Street, 
still  stands,  preserving  many  of  its  Colonial 
lines. 

There  was  a  time  when  Sunbury,  the  cradle 
of  that  splendid  secession  of  1776,  was  a  port 
of  entry,  and  the  Altamaha  was  looked  upon 
as  a  rival  of  the  Savannah.  Now  the  forts  of 
Sunbury  are  overgrown,  and  the  place  is  sel- 
dom heard  of  save  once  a  year,  when  one  of 
"the  Critter  companies"  of  the  neighborhood 


Savannah 


297 


repairs  to  the  historic  spot  and  holds  its  annual 
target  contest  and  barbecue.  Frederica  was  a 
flourishing  settlement  on  South  Newport  River, 
but  after  the  Spanish  War  of  i  742  sank  into 
decay.      Ebenezer,  on  the   Savannah,  was  the 


HOUSE   WHERE   THE   COLONIAL    LEGISLATURE    ASSEMBLED  IN    1782. 

home  of  the  thrifty  Salzburgers,  who  gave  a 
distinct  stamp  to  the  Georgia  colony,  but  Ebe- 
nezer did  not  long  survive  the  shock  of  the 
Revolution,  when  the  British  scandalized  these 
primitive  people  by  quartering  their  horses 
in  the  old  brick  church,  which  stands  to- 
day. Only  Savannah,  of  all  these  early  settle- 
ments, remains,  and  when  one  walks  through 


298  Savannah 

its  beautiful  streets  and  Colonial  parks,  even 
now  he  can  easily  recall  the  conditions  of  that 
February  morning  in  1732,  when  "the  odor  of 
the  jessamine  mingled  with  the  balm  of  the 
pine,"  and  the  palmetto  and  magnolia  threw 
their  shade  across  the  sandy  bluff. 

Hon.  P.  W.  Meldrim,  Mayor  of  Savannah, 
in  a  tribute  to  his  city  in  a  recent  address, 
called  attention  to  the  fact  that  the  very  name 
of  Savannah's  streets,  "  State,"  "  Congress," 
■'President,"  are  full  of  patriotic  suggestions, 
telling  the  story  of  the  Revolutionary  struggle. 
Other  avenues  bear  the  historic  names  of 
Montgomery,  Perry,  and  McDonough,  while 
the  wards  have  been  labeled  Washington, 
Warren,  Franklin  and  Greene. 

"  Every  spot  is  hallowed.  Where  the  Vernon  River 
flows  by  Beaulieu,  the  dashing  D'Estaing  landed  to  make 
his  attack  with  the  allied  forces  of  Savannah.  Hard  by 
is  Bethesda,  'House  of  Mercy,'  where  Jew,  Protestant 
and  Roman  Catholic  united  in  founding  Georgia's  noblest 
charity.  There  it  was  that  Wesley  sang  his  inspired 
songs  and  -Whitefield  with  his  eloquence  thrilled  the 
world.  On  the  river  is  the  grove  where  General  Greene 
lived  and  died,  and  Whitney  wrought  from  his  fertile 
brain  the  wonderful  invention  which  revolutionized  com- 
merce. Near  at  hand,  almost  sunk  into  oblivion,  is  the 
spring  made  historic  by  the  daring  of  Jasper  and  New- 
ton.    There  stands  Savannah's  pride,  her  Academy  of 


Savannah 


299 


Arts  and  Science.  Over  there  is  the  home  where  Wash- 
ington was  entertained,  and  across  the  street  are  the 
guns  which  he  captured  at  Yorktown.  Here,  at  our  very 
feet,  Casimir  Pulaski  fell,  charging  at  the  head  of  his 
legion,  while  Jasper,  rescuing  the  colors,  yielded  up  his 
gallant  life." 


HEADQUARTERS   OF    WASHINGTON    DURING    A   VISIT   TO    SAVANNAH. 

The  real  romance  of  history  is  the  settlement 
of  the  colony  of  Georgia.  Two  centuries  ago 
the  fertile  lands  extending  from  the  Savannah 
to  the  Altamaha  had  attracted  the  attention  of 
pioneers  and  public  men.  Sir  Robert  Mont- 
gomery had  his  eye  upon  this  favored  tract,  as 
yet  unsettled,  and  described  it  as  "an  amiable 


300  Savannah 

land  lying  along  the  same  parallel  with  Pales- 
tine." But  it  \\  reserved  for  the  first  soldier 
and  gentleman  of  his  day  to  found  the  new 
colony  and  perfect  a  noble  benefaction.  Had 
England  exercised  the  same  care  over  the 
other  colonies  as  over  Georgia,  it  is  possible 
that  the  War  of  the  Revolution  might  have 
been  postponed  indefinitely.  It  is  worthy  of 
note  that  while  Viro-inia  and  the  New  E norland 
colonies  were  settled  by  exiles  who  drifted  to 
the  barren  shores  of  Jamestown  and  Plymouth 
to  escape  religious  and  civil  persecution,  the 
Georgia  colonists  sailed  the  seas  in  the  g-ood 
ship  Aim  under  the  fostering  care  of  the 
mother  country,  piloted  by  statesmen  and 
noblemen,  and  sought  the  smiling  Savannahs 
with  all  the  forms  of  royal  patronage.  These 
people,  released  from  debtors'  prisons  and 
freed  from  pecuniary  obligations,  cleared  by  a 
single  act  of  royal  clemency  from  bankruptcy, 
departed  for  Georgia  with  ships  supplied  from 
the  coffers  of  nobility,  while  the  spiritual  wel- 
fare of  the  people  was  nurtured  by  the  clergy- 
men of  the  Established  Church.  It  was  a  lofty 
benefaction,  and  when  these  hitherto  unfortu- 
nate men  felt  their  fetters  fall,  and  knew  that 
no  bailiff  awaited  them  in  Savannah,  it  was  no 


Savannah  301 

wonder  that,  on  the  morning  of  the  2d  of 
February,  1733,  they  gave  thanks  "for  the 
safe  conduct  of  the  colony  to  its  appointed 
destination." 

The  foundation  of  the  colony  was  laid  along 
the  lines  of  fraternity.  The  Carolinians  met 
them  at  the  threshold,  and  gave  them  refresh- 
ment and  substantial  aid  in  laying  out  their 
city.  The  principal  streets.  Bull,  Whitaker, 
Drayton,  St.  Julian,  and  Bryan,  were  named 
for  prominent  Carolina  farmers  who  crossed 
the  river  with  their  servants  and  helped  the 
Georgians  start  life  in  the  new  world.  The 
fact  that  Carolina  realized  that  she  was  build- 
ing an  outpost  to  protect  her  against  the 
Indians  and  Spanish  does  not  detract  from 
the  cheerfulness  of  this  assistance.  The  early 
days  of  the  enterprise  were  almost  Arcadian. 
Sir  Robert  Montgomery,  who  desired  to  erect 
an  ideal  commonwealth  upon  this  spot  and 
call  it  "the  Margravate  of  Azalia,"  could  have 
conceived  no  more  Utopian  plan  than  that 
upon  which  the  colony  actually  commenced 
to  grow.  Land  was  divided  into  lots  for 
each  freeholder  under  a  strict  agrarian  law. 
The  tracts  were  entailed,  preventing  the  es- 
trangement of  his  holdings  by  an  improvident 


302  Savannah 

man.  There  was  no  chance  for  the  rich  to 
monopoHze  the  country.  The  landshark  was 
unknown.  Government  bounty  was  prompt 
and  Hberal  in  encouraging  silk  culture,  and 
the  seal  of  the  colony  contains  the  altruistic 
motto,  descriptive  of  the  unselfish  product  of 
the  silkworm,  Non  sibi,  sed  aliis.  The  very 
land  which  Hernando  De  Soto  and  his  rapa- 
cious Spaniards  had  just  ravished  in  their 
search  for  gold  was  now  claimed  by  these 
Christian  socialists,  who  started  the  first  work 
of  "  benevolent  assimilation  "  on  this  continent. 
Eight  years  after  the  colony  had  been 
founded,  a  visitor  to  Savannah  described  the 
progress  made  in  a  very  clear  way.  Savannah 
was  then  a  mile  and  a  quarter  in  circumfer- 
ence, situated  upon  a  steep  bluff  forty-five 
feet  above  the  river.  The  houses  were  built 
of  wood,  Mr.  Oglethorpe's  being  no  finer  than 
those  of  forty  other  freeholders.  Residences 
were  good  distances  apart.  To-day,  Savannah 
is  one  of  the  most  closely  constructed  cities  in 
the  United  States.  Few  houses  have  gardens, 
and  some  of  the  streets  present  long  rows 
of  tenements  in  maddening  monotony.  The 
squares  designed  by  Oglethorpe  for  market- 
places  and   assembly  grounds  are   now  good 


Savannah 


303 


breathing-spots,  which  serve  in  a  measure  to 
make  up  for  the  lack  of  private  gardens.      On 
one  of  these  squares  stands  the  monument  to 
General     Na- 
thanael  Greene,    '~ 
of   Rhode    I  si-  *,< 

and,  who,  ac- 
cording to  the 
historian,  shar- 
ed with  Wash- 
ington the  grat- 
itude of  the 
patriots  of  the 
R  e  vo  lu  t  i  o  n. 
There  are  also 
shafts  to  the 
memory  of  Ser- 
geant William 
Jasper  and 
Count  Pulaski, 
who  fell,  mar- 
tyrs in  the  siege 
of  Savannah,  in 
1779.  The  cor- 
ner-stones of  these  monuments  were  laid  by  no 
less  a  person  than  the  Marquis  de  Lafayette. 
At  the  time  of  Mr.  Francis   Moore's  report 


THE   JASPER    MONUMENT. 


304  Savannah 

there  was  a  guardhouse  along  the  river  where 
nineteen  or  twenty  cannon  were  mounted,  and 
continual  watch  was  kept  by  the  freeholders. 
No  lawyers  were  allowed  to  plead  for  hire  ;  no 
attorneys  were  licensed  to  make  money;  but,  as 
in  old  times  in  England,  every  man  pleaded  his 
own  case.  Where  an  orphan  was  interested, 
or  one  could  not  speak  for  himself,  there  were 
persons  "  of  the  best  substance  in  town  "  ap- 
pointed by  the  trustees  to  defend  the  helpless, 
and  that  without  fee  or  reward. 

Silk  culture  was  to  be  the  principal  industry 
of  the  young  colony.  Italians  were  brought 
over  from  Piedmont  to  feed  the  worms  and 
wind  the  silk.  Liberal  bounty  was  given  to 
encouraee  the  Geororians.  So  intent  were  the 
authorities  upon  this  interest  that  they  neg- 
lected the  cultivation  of  cotton,  rice,  indigo 
and  more  satisfactory  crops.  The  old  filature 
was  designed  as  a  sort  of  normal  school  for  in- 
struction  in  this  art.  This  shed  was  built  of 
rough  boards,  thirty-six  feet  long  and  twenty 
feet  wide,  and  had  a  loft,  upon  the  flooring  of 
which  the  green  cocoons  were  spread.  Fi- 
nally, the  trustees,  desiring  to  push  this  indus- 
try, purchased  the  silk-balls  from  the  growers 
and  wound  them  at  their  own  expense.      But 


Savannah  305 

all  this  outlay  was  for  nothing.  The  Gov- 
ernment spent  /1500  in  machines,  salaries, 
bounties  and  filatures,  and  raised  scarcely  one 
thousand  pounds  of  silk,  and  yet  we  are  told 
that  England  expected  the  experiment  to  real- 
ize five  hundred  thousand  pounds  and  to  give 
employment  to  forty  thousand  people.  To 
secure  a  high  class  of  skilful,  self-reliant  colo- 
nists, the  trustees  had  barred  out  slavery  and 
rum.  But  the  colony  projected  upon  such 
lofty  planes  for  some  reason  did  not  prosper. 
The  people  clamored  for  slaves  to  cultivate 
the  rice-fields,  and  for  the  West  Indian  traffic 
in  sugar  and  rum  to  build  up  their  foreign 
trade.  They  fought  the  restricted  land  ten- 
ures ;  in  fine,  they  wanted  to  become  plain,  ev- 
ery-day  colonists,  like  the  Carolinians  and 
Virginians.  They  had  been  reinforced  by  the 
sturdy  Salzsburgers,  the  canny  Scots,  the  pious 
Moravians,  and  the  thrifty  Hebrews,  but  still 
the  humanitarian  principles  of  the  charter  did 
not  insure  them  a  thriving  existence. 

If  silk  culture  failed,  it  is  not  a  little  remark- 
able that  in  the  ranks  of  this  same  people,  one 
hundred  years  later,  an  invention  was  perfected 
which  gave  rise  to  a  new  empire  and  enthroned 
as  king  the  best  fibre  of  the  field.     The  filature 


3o6  Savannah 

on  St.  Julian  Street  lost  its  distinctive  charac- 
ter, and  became  an  assembly  hall  for  the  town 
meeting  and  the  militia  muster  ;  but  upon  the 
Savannah  River,  a  few  miles  above  the  cit)-, 
Eli  Whitney,  the  shrewd  Connecticut  con- 
triver, worked  out  the  secret  saw^s  of  the  cot- 
ton-fjin,  and  made  Georcria  and  the  whole 
South  opulent  and  powerful.  The  Piedmont- 
ese  still  spin  their  silk  under  their  own  trees  at 
home  ;  but  ten  million  bales  of  cotton  annually 
whiten  in  the  suns  and  frosts,  and  to-day  more 
than  one  million  bales  each  year  are  exported 
from  Savannah  alone.  So  two  New  England 
heroes,  Nathanael  Greene  and  Eli  Whitney, 
aided  in  protecting  the  people  of  Georgia  from 
a  foreign  foe  and  in  building  up  their  com- 
mercial supremacy. 

No  sketch  of  colonial  Georgia  is  adequate 
which  omits  the  name  of  Tomochichi.  This 
aged  Creek  was  over  ninety  years  old  wdien  he 
welcomed  Oglethorpe  to  his  demesne.  The 
loyalty  of  the  venerable  mico  to  his  white 
friends  never  faltered.  He  hailed  them  wnth 
all  the  grace  and  amity  of  Montezuma,  and 
guarded  them  against  attacks  from  the  tribes 
of  the  interior.  In  his  youth  a  great  warrior, 
Tomochichi  in  the  evening  of  his  life  was  noted 


Savannah 


507 


for  his  wit,  perception  and  generosity.  When 
he  died,  the  colonists  buried  him  with  mihtary 
honors  in  the  pubhc  square.  Oglethorpe  or- 
dered a  pyramid  of  stones  to  be  erected  over 
his  grave  as  a  testimony  of  gratitude.  It  was 
only  during  the  last  year  that  the  Georgia  So- 


THE    BURIAL   PLACE    OF   TOMOCHICHL 

ciety  of  Colonial  Dames  of  America  caused  a 
oranite  boulder,  rouo-h-hewn  from  a  Geora;ia 
quarry,  to  be  placed  in  the  square  where  his 
remains  are  supposed  to  lie,  commemorating 
his  noble  character  and  heroic  virtues. 

Hon.  Walter  G.  Carlton,  in  speaking  of  the 
history  of  this  city,  exclaimed  : 

"  Beyond  the  clouds  of  furnace  smoke  and  back  of 


3o8  Savannah 

piers  of  cotton  bales  arise  the  visions  of  old  Savannah. 
What  glories  cluster  about  her  honored  name  !  From 
out  her  past  appears  the  noble  form  of  him  who  from  the 
brilliant  old  world  light  and  the  gay  splendor  of  the 
English  Court  sought  these  untried  shores,  an  exile  in 
fair  mercy's  sake,  and  lent  to  the  struggle  of  his  fellow- 
men  the  strength  of  that  genius  which  sped  his  fame 
through  all  the  fields  of  Europe  ;  and  with  him  through 
the  shadows  of  that  far-off  time  comes  a  dusky  figure,  a 
Christian  who  has  never  heard  of  God,  a  gentleman  into 
whose  guiltless  life  had  never  come  the  influence  of 
court  or  fashion  ;  brave  with  a  conscience  of  honest 
aim  ;  kindly  with  the  innate  tendency  of  a  noble  nature  ; 
regal  in  that  charity  which  loves  to  give  ;  a  hero  to 
whose  virtues  no  tablet  speaks  ;  a  Georgian  in  whose 
memory  no  marble  shaft  lifts  up  its  polished  line  ; 
forgotten  of  those  he  served  ;  asleep  in  his  nameless 
grave  ;  but  blessed  be  the  soil  which  has  mingled  with 
Tomochichi's  dust,  the  first  of  the  great  Savannahians  !  " 

On  the  original  spot  where  the  colonists  es- 
tablished a  house  of  worship  stands  to-day  the 
beautiful  and  classic  proportions  of  Christ 
Church.  Here  Wesley  preached  and  White- 
field  exhorted, — the  most  gifted  and  erratic 
characters  in  the  early  settlement  of  Georgia. 
Wesley  came  to  the  Georgia  shores  with  a 
fervor  amounting  almost  to  religious  mysti- 
cism. He  thought  his  mission  was  to  Christ- 
ianize  the  Indians.  No  priest  from  Spain 
ever    carried    the    Cross    among    the    Aztecs 


Savannah 


;o9 


and  Incas  of  Mexico  and  Peru  with  more 
zeal  than  the  sanguine  Wesley.  His  career 
in  Georgia  was  checkered  and  unfruitful.  A 
man  of  great  ability  and  undoubted  piety, 
he  suspended  his  missionary  work  among 
the   Indians  because  he    could  not    learn  the 


CHRIST   CHURCH. 

language  and  never  understood  their  tempera- 
ment. His  ministry  among  the  whites  was 
marked  by  a  severity  which  made  him  unpopu- 
lar. He  seems  to  have  been  a  martinet  in  the 
pulpit, — as  Colonel  Jones  calls  him,  "  a  censor 
mortim  in  the  community."  He  became  em- 
broiled with  his  parishioners  and  left  Savannah 


3IO 


Savannah 


between  the  suns.  And  yet  Bishop  Chandler 
of  Georgia  probably  spoke  the  words  of  truth 
from  the  pulpit  of  Wesley  Monumental  Church 
in  Savannah,  in  November,  1899,  when  he  said 
that  "  no  Qfi'ander  man  ever  walked  these  his- 
toric  streets  than  John  Wesley." 


■'if 


OAKS   AT    BETHESDA    ORPHANAGE,     UNDER    WHICH    WHITEFIELO 
PREACHED. 

George  Whitefield  was  a  preacher  of  such 
talent  that  Chesterfield  said  he  had  never  lis- 
tened to  so  eloquent  a  man.  Benjamin  Frank- 
lin regfarded  him  as  a  model  of  loofic  and 
power.  This  good  Oxford  graduate  was  actu- 
ated, like  Oglethorpe,  by  the  broadest  benevo- 


Savannah  311 

lence  when  he  estabhshed  an  orphan  home  at 
Bethesda ;  but  his  zeal  outran  his  slender  re- 
sources. He  incurred  heavy  debts,  misman- 
aged his  laudable  enterprise  until  his  spirit 
gave  way  under  the  discouraging  situation.  He 
died  in  Newbury  port,  Massachusetts,  while  he 
was  soliciting  aid  for  his  cherished  project. 
Whitefield  desired  to  broaden  the  lines  of  his 
Bethesda  work,  and  to  found  a  college  for  the 
Province  of  Georgia.  Had  the  colony  given 
its  revenues  to  such  a  plan  as  the  people  of 
Massachusetts  gave  to  the  support  of  Harvard, 
Georofia  mig^ht  have  founded  a  ffreat  educa- 
tional  institution  fifty  years  before  Jefferson 
started  his  work  at  Monticello,  and  a  full  cen- 
tury before  Governor  Milledge  established 
Franklin  College  in  this  State. 

After  twenty  years,  Georgia  ceased  to  be  a 
province  under  the  trustees,  and  became  a  col- 
ony under  the  King.  As  originally  projected, 
the  enterprise  was  expensive.  The  great  Ogle- 
thorpe returned  to  England  and  spent  his  old 
age  in  peace.  The  trustees  surrendered  their 
charter,  but  the  old  country  had  been  good  to 
the  people.  Ties  with  the  motherland  were 
hard  to  break.  This  accounted  for  the  fact  that 
Georgia,  the  youngest  of  the  thirteen,  was  the 


12 


Savannah 


last  to  sever  her  relations  with  England  and 
join  in  the  Revolutionary  movement.  Her 
most  prominent  men,  James  Habersham  and 
Noble  Jones,  through  their  influence  with  the 
Royalists  and  the  popu- 
lar Governor,  Sir  James 
Wright,  held  the  people 
down  at  least  to  a  show 
of  allegiance  to  the  Brit- 
ish Crown.  "It  excites 
small  wonder,"  writes  Col. 
Charles  C.  Jones,  "that 
many  of  the  wealthiest 
GREAT  SEAL  OF  GEORGIA  IN    ^j^^}   „-,Q^t  influential  citi- 

COLONIAL    DAYS. 

zens  of  Georgia  should 
have  tenaciously  clung  to  the  fortunes  of 
the  Crown,  and  sincerely  deprecated  all 
ideas  of  separation.  Of  all  the  American 
colonies,  this  province  had  subsisted  most 
generously  upon  royal  bounty,  and  had  been 
the  recipient  of  favors  far  beyond  those  ex- 
tended to  sister  States."  But  if  the  old  families 
were  still  faithful  to  England,  there  was  one 
spot  where  Republicanism  was  aflame.  The 
parish  of  St.  John  had  been  settled  by  New 
England  people  who  had  moved  first  to  South 
Carolina  and  then  to  Dorchester  and  Sunbury 


Savannah  3 i 3 

in  Georgia.  They  were  Puritans  with  no  sym- 
pathy for  the  Established  Church  or  for  the 
divine  right  of  kings.  They  loved  liberty, 
and  hated  royalty.  They  were  brave,  resolute 
and  anxious  to  form  a  league  against  English 
oppression.  Led  by  Dr.  Lyman  Hall,  a  sturdy 
rice  planter  and  prominent  physician  of  Sun- 
bury,  they  responded  with  alacrity  to  the  call 
from  Boston.  He  went  to  the  Continental  Con- 
gress in  Philadelphia,  May  13,  1775,  and  was 
admitted  to  a  seat  as  a  delegate,  not  from  the 
colony,  but  from  the  parish  of  St.  John.  Un- 
til Georgia  was  fully  represented  Dr.  Hall  de- 
clined to  vote  upon  questions  which  were  to  be 
decided  by  the  colonies.  He,  however,  partici- 
pated in  the  debates,  and  predicted  that  the  ex- 
ample shown  by  his  parish  would  soon  be 
followed.  A  native  of  Connecticut,  Dr.  Hall 
was  a  member  of  the  Midway  Congregation, 
where  many  patriots  worshipped  liberty  as 
a  part  of  their  religion.  The  rebel  spirit  of  St. 
John,  in  advance  of  the  other  parishes,  re- 
ceived special  recognition  when  the  Legisla- 
ture afterwards  conferred  the  name  "  Liberty 
County "  upon  this  section,  where  dwelt  the 
descendants  of  New  England  people  and  the 
Puritan  independent  sect. 


14 


Savannah 


Dr.  Hall's  prediction  that  the  example  of 
St.  John's  would  soon  be  followed,  was  rapidly 
fulfilled.  Events  moved  beyond  the  control  of 
the  old  Royalists.  The  elder  Jones  and  the 
knightly    Habersham   about   tliis   time   passed 


OLD    FORT,    WHERE    POWDER    MAGAZINE    WAS   SEIZED    IN    1775. 

away,  and  their  impetuous  young  sons  had  al- 
ready made  vigorous  progress  in  the  gathering 
struggle  for  independence.  The  first  liberty 
pole  was  elevated  in  Savannah,  June  5,  1775. 
The  loyal  men  were  even  then  celebrating  the 
King's  birthday ;  but  "  the  Liberty  Boys " 
spiked  the  cannon  which  were  ready  to  be 
fired  on  this  royal  anniversary,  and  rolled  the 


Savannah  315 

dismantled  guns  to  the  bottom  of  the  bluff. 
iVbout  this  time  the  powder  magazine  in  the 
eastern  part  of  the  city  was  seized  and  some 
of  the  ammunition  shipped  to  Boston,  where 
it  was  used  at  the  battle  of  Bunker  Hill.  In 
June,  1776,  Major  Joseph  Habersham,  acting 
under  the  authority  of  the  Council  of  Safety, 
proceeded  to  the  residence  of  the  chief  magis- 
trate, General  Wright.  He  passed  the  senti- 
nel at  the  door,  and  advancing  to  the  Governor 
placed  his  hand  upon  his  shoulder  and  said, 
"  Sir  James,  you  are  my  prisoner."  Georgia 
now  plunged  boldly  into  the  Revolution.  Her 
sufferings  and  struggles,  her  prolonged  captiv- 
ity and  final  issuance  from  British  occupation 
in  July,  1782,  are  familiar  chapters  of  Revolu- 
tionary history. 

It  is  entirely  creditable  to  James  Edward 
Oglethorpe  that  he  should  have  refused  to  take 
control  of  the  British  armies  against  the  Amer- 
ican people.  The  great  soldier,  who  had  fought 
under  Prince  Eugene  of  Savoy  and  John  of 
Argyle,  declined  to  draw  his  sword  to  strike 
down  the  young  colonies  he  had  done  so  much 
to  build  up.  If  England  was  his  mother, 
Georgia  he  considered  his  offspring.  He  had 
founded    it    and    protected    it,    and   from   the 


3i6 


Savannah 


ramparts  of  Frederica  had  beaten  back  the  in- 
vadino:  Spaniards  at  "  Bloody  Marsh."    He  had 

sought  no  reward. 
The  highest  phil- 
anthropy brought 
him  to  these 
shores  to  share 
the  lot  of  the 
emigrant.  The 
friend  of  Hannah 
More,  the  com- 
panion of  Pope, 
the  patron  of 
S  o  t  h  e  r  n,  Dr. 
Johnson  wished 
to  write  his  life, 
a  n  d  Ed  m  u  n  d 
Burke  regarded  him  as  the  most  extraordi- 
nary person  of  whom  he  had  ever  read.  There 
is  no  specific  monument  to  Oglethorpe  in 
Georgia.  Why  should  there  be  ?  A  tablet  in 
Cranham  Church  in  England  proclaims  his 
excellence  ;  but  here,  in  the  language  of  Chas. 
C.  Jones,  "  The  Savannah  repeats  to  the  Alta- 
maha  the  stories  of  his  virtues  and  his  valor." 
Savannah  during  the  Revolution  recalls  a 
story  of  blood  and  suffering.      If  her  people 


GINER/U.   OGLETHORPE. 


Savannah 


OW 


delayed  in  severing  the  bonds  which  united 
them  to  the  mother  country,  they  struck 
promptly  and  boldly  when  the  issue  came,  and 
were  zealous  throughout  their  long  period  of 
captivity  in  opposing  the  forces  of  his  Majesty's 
government.  After  the  colonists  had  seized 
the  powder  from  the  royal  magazine,  and  had 
erected  the  liberty  pole  on  King  George's 
birthday,  they  went  actively  to  work  in  fortify- 
ing the  city  against  the  British  troops.  In 
February,  i  776,  when  the  English  warships  and 
transports  sailed  up  the  river,  they  were  met  by 
the  patriots  with  a  galling  volley,  and  their 
fleet  was  afterwards  scattered  by  a  fire-ship 
set  adrift  from  the  American  shore,  communi- 
cating the  flames  to  the  British  boats  and 
sending  their  men  and  sailors  through  the 
marshes  in  flight.  On  the  29th  of  December, 
1778,  General  Howe,  the  commander  of  the 
Americans,  was  defeated  by  Colonel  Campbell. 
The  English  and  Hessian  soldiers  marched 
through  a  small  path  in  the  swamp,  and  fell 
suddenly  upon  the  flank  and  rear  of  the  Ameri- 
cans, consisting  of  but  nine  hundred  men, 
while  Colonel  Campbell's  forces,  which  had 
been  landed  at  Tybee  Island,  numbered  three 
thousand    five    hundred.      The    remainder    of 


3i8  Savannah 

General  Howe's  army  escaped  into  South 
CaroHna,  and  the  British  took  possession  of 
Savannah,  which  they  held  for  three  years  and 
a  half.  In  October,  1779,  a  bloody  battle  was 
fought  at  Savannah,  but  the  British  again 
triumphed  over  the  allied  forces  of  the  French 
and  Americans.  Count  D'Estaing  arrived  off 
Tybee  with  thirty-five  ships  and  five  thousand 
men.  General  Lachlan  Mcintosh  and  Count 
Casimir  Pulaski  marched  down  from  Augusta 
and  formed  a  junction  with  D'Estaing.  The 
engagement  took  place  at  Spring  Hill  redoubt, 
now  the  site  of  the  Georgia  Railway.  Count 
D'Estaing  was  shot,  the  noble  Pulaski  was 
killed,  and  the  gallant  Jasper,  who  endeavored 
to  plant  the  American  flag  upon  the  redoubt, 
fell  mortally  wounded.  Shortly  afterwards,  the 
French  fleet  sailed  away,  and  the  American 
forces  were  left  to  harass  the  enemy  from 
time  to  time.  This  was  done  in  splendid  style 
by  General  Anthony  Wayne,  the  Rough  Rider 
of  the  Revolution,  who  dashed  into  the  British 
with  his  flying  columns  and  inflicted  damage 
day  by  day.  Finally,  on  the  nth  of  July, 
1782,  the  English  surrendered  to  General 
Wayne,  who  entered  the  city  and  rescued  it 
from  its  long  captivity.      A  memorial  tablet, 


Savannah 


319 


placed  in  position  at  the  old  site  of  Tondee's 
tavern,  marks  the  spot  where  the  early  patriots, 


COUNT    CASIMIR    PULASKI. 


braving  violence  abroad,  and  even  derision  at 
home,    erected    their    liberty    pole,   while    the 


320  Savannah 

frowning  battlements  of  a  model  bastion 
commemorate  the  name  of  Pulaski. 

At  the  siege  of  Savannah  the  city  held  only 
about  four  hundred  houses  and  less  than  one 
thousand  people.  George  Washington,  who 
visited  the  city  in  i  790,  writes  in  his  diary  that 
the  place  was  "high  and  sandy,"  that  the 
town  was  surrounded  with  "  rich  and  luxuriant 
rice  fields,"  that  the  harbor  was  "filled  with 
square  rigged  vessels,"  and  that  the  chief  trade 
was  tobacco,  indigo,  hemp,  lumber  and  cotton. 
General  Washington  was  received  with  every 
evidence  of  honor,  and  the  Chatham  Artillery 
was  by  him  presented  with  handsome  guns. 
This  memorable  organization,  second  only  to 
the  Ancient  and  Honorables,  of  Hartford,  fired 
a  salute  to  George  Washington,  as  they  after- 
wards did  to  Presidents  Monroe,  Arthur,  Cleve- 
land and  McKinley  upon  their  visits  to  this 
city.  The  Chathams  served  in  the  Civil  War 
and  in  the  late  Spanish-American  struggle. 

The  first  steamship  ever  built  in  the  United 
States  was  projected  and  owned  in  this  city. 
It  was  named  the  Savannah,  and  in  April,  18 19, 
sailed  for  Liverpool,  completing  the  voyage 
across  the  sea  in  twenty-two  days.  Off  Cape 
Clear  the  Savaimak  was  signalled  as  a  vessel 


322  Savannah 

on  fire,  and  a  cutter  was  sent  to  Cork  for  her 
relief.  Thus  Savannah  perfected  not  only  the 
cotton-gin,  but  steam  navigation,  which  revolu- 
tionized the  industry  and  commerce  of  the 
world.  Savannah  continued  to  prosper  down 
to  the  period  of  the  Civil  War,  having  com- 
pleted the  Georgia  Central  Railway,  the  longest 
and  most  important  line  in  the  South  and 
built  up  large  foreign  and  domestic  commerce 
at  her  port. 

When  the  troubles  leading  up  to  the  Civil 
War  opened.  Savannah  did  not  wait  for  the 
State  of  Georgia  to  secede,  but,  true  to  the 
traditions  of  Revolutionary  ancestry,  seized 
Fort  Pulaski  on  the  3d  of  January,  1861. 
The  State  convention,  which  framed  a  new 
constitution  for  Georgia,  assembled  in  Savan- 
nah on  the  7th  of  March,  and  the  fiag  of  the 
Confederacy  was  thrown  to  the  breeze  from  the 
United  States  Custom  House  with  a  salute  of 
seven  guns,  one  for  each  State  of  the  young 
nation.  The  moving  spirit  of  secession  in 
Savannah,  the  "  Mad  Anthony  Wayne  "  of  the 
State,  was  Francis  S.  Bartow,  a  young  man 
who,  failing  to  receive  permission  from  the 
State  authorities  to  go  to  Virginia,  summoned 
his  company  and  went  without  orders,  sending 


Savannah 


323 


back  in  defiance  the  message  to  Governor 
Brown  :  "  I  go  to  illustrate  Georgia."  He  was 
killed  with  several  of  his  command  at  the  first 
battle  of  Manassas,  so  that  Savannah  received 
the  baptism  of 
blood  at  the  very 
beginning  of  the 
Civil  War.  In 
November,  1861, 
General  Robert 
E.  Lee  made  his 
headquarters  i  n 
Savannah  and  in- 
spected its  defen- 
c  es.  He  pro- 
nounced Fort  Pu- 
laski impregnable, 
and  said  its  walls, 
which  were  seven 
and  a  half  feet 
thick,  would  with- 
stand the  heaviest  cannon.  The  rifled  ofuns 
of  large  calibre,  however,  had  not  then  been 
tested,  and  their  penetrating  power  was  un- 
known. As  a  matter  of  fact,  the  fort  was 
breached  by  Union  batteries  from  Tybee 
Island  in  one  day.     On  the  nth  of  April,  1862, 


R.   M.  CHARLTON,  POET,  JURIST, 
U.  S.  SENATOR. 


324  Savannah 

General  Gillmore,  who  had  constructed  the  fort 
for  the  Government  at  a  cost  of  $500,000,  re- 
duced it  at  a  range  of  from  two  thousand  to  three 
thousand  five  hundred  yards.  One  remarkable 
fact  about  the  defence  of  Fort  Pulaski  was  that 
the  Confederates  allowed  the  Northern  fleet 
to  sail  back  of  the  fort  through  Wall's  Cut, 
and  interrupt  communication  with  the  city.  It 
was  through  this  identical  channel  that  the 
British  reinforced  their  troops  in  1 779,  the 
French  fleet  failing  to  guard  the  narrow  pass. 
In  July,  1863,  the  Confederate  ironclad  ship 
Atlanta,  fitted  out  in  Savannah,  sailed  for 
Warsaw  Sound  to  meet  the  monitors  U\'chaw- 
ken  and  Nahaiit.  The  Atlanta  ran  ag-round, 
and  was  shot  to  pieces  by  her  antagonists. 
On  December  26,  1864,  General  Sherman's 
army  captured  the  city,  eighty-six  years,  almost 
to  the  day,  after  the  British  captured  it  from 
General  Howe.  Savannah  then  contained 
about  twenty  thousand  people.  To-day  it  has 
over  sixty  thousand,  is  the  largest  and  busiest 
seaport  on  the  South  Atlantic,  ships  more  than 
a  million  bales  of  cotton  a  year,  and  handles 
more  than  a  million  packages  of  naval  stores. 
At  Tybee  Roads,  where  Oglethorpe  first 
anchored    his    good    ship    Ann;     where    the 


Savannah  325 

English  fleet  halted  before  attacking  the  town  ; 
where  D'Estaino-  moored  his  French  frio-ates 
and  waited  for  the  Americans  to  join  him ; 
where  the  colonists  captured  the  powder  ship 
from  the  Enp;lish,  the  first  naval  enoraeement 
of  the  Revolution  ;  where  the  sturdy  Southern 
ironclad  met  the  invulnerable  monitors  of  the 
Union,  ships  of  every  flag  now  ride  and  rest. 
Not  alone  the  little  "square-rigged  vessels" 
which  Washinofton  saw,  but  biof  ocean  steam- 
ships,  of  which  the  Savannah  was  the  pioneer, 
now  plow  their  way  to  foreign  and  domestic 
ports.  The  shipping  of  Savannah  exceeds 
that  of  all  the  South  Atlantic  and  Gulf  ports 
from  Baltimore  to  Mobile. 


MOBILE 


THE  GULF  CITY" 


By  peter  J.   HAMILTON 

PERHAPS  Mobile  is  the  only  American 
city  which  has  seen  five  flags  wave  as  em- 
blems of  the  peaceful  rule  of  as  many  civilized 
powers.  She  has  been  French,  English,  Span- 
ish, American  and  Confederate  by  turn,  and 
her  street  names  perpetuate  her  varied  story. 
In  the  original  Creole  limits,  we  find  Dauphin 
and  Royal,  of  the  French  era  ;  Government, 
St.  Joseph,  and  Conception,  of  the  Spanish  ; 
just  without,  come  many  American  names  like 
Jackson,  Franklin,  Monroe,  and  Congress  ;  and 
the  Mexican  War  produced  Monterey  ;  while 
Beauregard,  Davis  Avenue,  and  Charleston 
Street,  among  others,  point  to  Confederate 
times  and  feelings.  The  Latin  element  is 
merged  in  the  Teutonic,  but  it  is  still  shown 
by  the  narrow  thoroughfares,  in  the  character  of 

327 


o 


28  Mobile 


the  people,  and  in  some  of  their  institutions 
and  diversions.  Steam,  electricity,  sewers, 
waterworks,  shell  roads  and  handsome  build- 
ings have  caused  a  long  and  romantic  history 
to  be  half  forgotten.  Let  us  recall  its  chief 
events. 

The  region  had  a  story  even  back  of  the 
European.  Not  only  are  Dauphine  Island 
and  the  Portersville  coast  at  the  mouth  of  the 
bay  fringed  with  banks  of  oyster-shell,  but  on 
the  marsh  islands  of  the  Mobile  delta,  and  in 
the  swamps  adjoining,  one  often  finds  huge 
piles  of  clam-shells  and  high  mounds  of  earth. 
These  sometimes  contain  human  bones  and 
ornaments,  and  point  to  a  large  native  popu- 
lation before  the  white  man  came. 

An  Indian  race,  the  Choctaw,  gave  the 
name  to  the  river  and  bay,  and  thus  to  the 
present  city  ;  iox  Maitbila,  or  "paddling"  In- 
dians, long  occupied  what  is  now  South  Ala- 
bama, and  their  language  was  in  later  days  the 
trade  jargon  from  the  Atlantic  to  the  Missis- 
sippi. Their  primitive  manner  of  living  was 
interrupted  about  three  centuries  and  a  half 
ago.  The  West  Indies  then  became  Spanish, 
and  the  mainland  was  explored  in  all  directions 
for  colonization.       A  map  of  15 13,  attributed 


Mobile  329 

to  Columbus,  shows  many  indentations  on  the 
north  coast  of  the  Mexican  Gulf,  then  without 
a  name,  and  the  only  one  of  them  with  a  river 
(Rio  de  la  Palma)  resembles  Mobile  Bay. 
From  time  to  time  afterwards  a  score  of  other 
maps,  with  gradually  increasing  distinctness,  de- 
velop the  true  outline.  On  them  the  principal 
feature  of  the  north  coast  is  a  pear-shaped  bay 
within  the  shore-line,  into  which  empty  one  or 
more  rivers  called  Rio  del  Espiritu  Santo,  or 
some  variation  of  that  name.  It  is  first  dis- 
tinct on  the  map  which  Governor  Garay  of 
Jamaica  sent  home,  as  showing  Pineda's  explo- 
ration of  Florida  in  15 19.  Some  have  thought 
this  the  Mississippi  River,  with  a  total  disre- 
gard of  the  fact  that  the  delta  of  that  great 
river  projects  out  into  the  Gulf,  while  this  bay 
is  within  the  coast.  We  have  to  wait  a  cen- 
tury and  a  half  before  there  is  any  account  of 
the  exploration  of  the  Mississippi  mouth  ;  and 
meantime,  dozens  of  maps  show  the  bay  or 
river  of  the  Holy  Spirit.  It  is,  on  the  map,  the 
most  prominent  object  on  the  north  coast  of 
the  Gulf,  corresponding  to  Panuco  (Tampico) 
on  the  west.  Spanish  ships  visited  it,  and 
some  explorers  have  left  descriptions.  Narvaez 
possibly  wintered  in  it  on  his  disastrous  voyage 


330  Mobile 

of  1528,  and  a  French  tradition  was  that  piles 
of  bones  on  Dauphine  Island  were  remains  of 
his  men.  Here,  or  in  Pensacola  Bay,  De  Soto's 
admiral,  Maldonado,  waited  for  De  Soto,  and 
here  he  certainly  touched  later  in  search  of 
his  lost  master. 

The  famous  expedition  of  De  Soto  crossed 
the  Mobile  River  basin  at  risfht  angles,  but  the 
itinerary  is  uncertain.  The  Spaniards  did  not 
care  enough  to  map  it  intelligently,  and  the 
Indians,  according  to  the  proverb,  could  tell 
no  tales. 

It  is  doubtful,  indeed,  if  De  Soto  came  much 
within  a  hundred  miles  of  the  present  site  of 
Mobile,  although  early  French  tradition  makes, 
him  to  have  crossed  somewhere  near  the  later 
settlement  of  Mobile  Indians,  about  Mount 
Vernon  landing. 

In  1558  was  made  the  careful  exploration 
by  Bazares,  who  proceeded  from  Mexico  east- 
ward towards  peninsular  Florida.  Two  bays 
he  named  Bas  Fonde  and  Filipina.  One  was 
Mobile,  and  it  was  probably  that  called  Filipina. 
The  object  was  settlement,  and  the  next  year 
Tristan  de  Luna  occupied  the  country  with  fif- 
teen hundred  colonists  and  explored  the  inte- 
rior by  Nanipacna  and  Cosa,  up  to  the  gold 


Mobile  331 

region  of  Georgia.  But  it  all  ended  only  in 
mutiny  and  misfortune.  There  was  more  gold 
and  less  fighting  in  Mexico  and  South  Amer- 
ica. The  Spaniards  claimed  regions  further 
north  more  to  keep  others  from  the  Gulf 
than  to  colonize  what  is  now  the  United 
States. 

Soon  Hawkins,  Drake,  and  the  buccaneers 
on  the  Gulf  gave  Spain  enough  to  do.  The 
French  occupied  the  St.  Lawrence,  and  even 
part  of  Florida.  Raleigh  and  others  led  out 
unsuccessful  English  colonies.  After  the 
wreck  of  the  Armada  had  destroyed  Spanish 
prestige,  the  advance  of  the  French  in  Canada, 
and  of  the  English  farther  south,  was  more 
rapid.  Jamestown  and  Plymouth  were  the  be- 
ginning of  colonies  which  gradually  lined  the 
Atlantic.  The  French  took  possession  of  the 
Great  Lakes,  and,  under  Marquette,  Joliet, 
and  La  Salle,  explored  the  Mississippi  to  its 
mouth. 

The  grand  plan  gradually  took  shape  in  the 
French  mind  of  colonizing  the  mouth  of  the 
great  river,  bringing  the  native  tribes  under 
control,  opening  trade  with  them,  discovering 
mines,  and  uniting  Louisiana,  as  La  Salle 
called  it,  with  Canada  by  a  chain  of  forts  at 


332  Mobile 

strategic  points.  La  Salle  did  not  live  to  ac- 
complish this.  He  was  assassinated  in  modern 
Texas,  after  missing  the  mouth  of  the  Missis- 
sippi. But  a  worthy  successor  was  found  af- 
ter a  few  years  in  the  elder  Lemoyne,  better 
known  as  Iberville.  In  1699.  he  was  success- 
ful in  finding  the  mouth  of  the  great  river,  but 
realized  that  its  swamps  offered  no  site  for  a 
colony.  He  and  his  brother,  Bienville,  ex- 
plored the  tributaries  and  the  adjacent  coasts, 
and  a  fort  was  temporarily  thrown  up  on  what 
is  now  the  east  side  of  the  Back  Bay  of  Biloxi. 
On  Iberville's  return  from  France,  in  1702,  the 
permanent  seat  of  the  colony  was  placed  at  27 
Mile  Bluff,  on  Mobile  River,  amid  the  friendly 
and  industrious  Indians.  The  Spaniards,  who 
had  themselves  lately  occupied  Pensacola,  vig- 
orously remonstrated  at  this  occupation  of 
Florida,  as  they  had  at  the  building  of  Fort 
Maurepas  at  Biloxi.  But  Iberville  was  acting 
for  Louis  XIV.,  and  soon  had  everything  of 
value  moved  via  Massacre  (now  Dauphine) 
Island  and  Mobile  Bay  to  Fort  Louis  de  la 
Mobile.  A  town  was  laid  out  and  settled. 
Conferences  with  Choctaws  and  Chickasaws 
followed,  and  alliances  were  made.  The  estab- 
lishment  of   what    was    even    then    popularly 


-f-..v 


FACSIMILE    PAGE   OF    BAPTISMAL    RECORD    (1704)    WITH    THE    AUTOGRAPH 
OF   BIENVILLE. 


333 


334  Mobile 

called  Mobile  was  the  entrance  of  a  new  power 
into  the  Gulf  country.  Tonty,  the  old  com- 
panion of  La  Salle,  came  to  stay,  and  colonists 
from  France  were  brought  to  the  port  at  Dau- 
phine  Island  by  every  ship.  The  shadowy 
Spanish  claim  became  forgotten  west  of  Pen- 
sacola,  and  the  English  traders  from  the  Atlan- 
tic colonies  found  active  competitors.  French 
influence  became  dominant  in  all  the  g-reat 
Mississippi  Valley.  It  showed  itself  in  explo- 
ration, religion,  trade,  and  war,  and  was  all  di- 
rected from  Mobile. 

Exploration  and  religion  went  together. 
The  Jesuits  had  not  as  strong  a  hold  as  in 
Canada,  and  the  Relatioiis  throw  little  light 
on  Louisiana.  But  the  Seminary  of  Quebec 
had  missionaries  like  Davion  on  the  Missis- 
sippi and  at  Mobile,  and  Jesuits  were  found 
among  the  Creeks  and  Choctaws.  The  Illi- 
nois region  was  already  known,  and  portages 
there  and  eastward  became  important,  where 
canoes  and  supplies  were  carried  from  the 
Lakes  to  head  waters  of  rivers  emptying  into 
the  Gulf.  Their  value  continued  until  our 
own  century,  and  has  pointed  the  way  for 
sys^tems  of  canals.  Le  Sueur,  who,  with  his 
influential  family,  lived  at  Mobile,  explored  the 


Mobile  335 

upper  Mississippi  and  Wisconsin  Rivers, 
whence  he  carried  green  earth  to  France. 
The  Ohio  River  was  occupied  to  keep  back 
the  English,  whose  traders  penetrated  even  to 
the  Chickasaws  and  Arkansas,  near  modern 
Memphis,  and  Juchereau  established  a  fort 
and  tannery  not  far  from  our  Cairo.  The  Red 
River  was  explored  in  order  to  bar  out  the 
Spaniards  and  to  seize  their  mines.  St.  Denis 
penetrated  Texas,  and,  as  a  prisoner,  visited 
Mexico.  Even  the  Missouri  was  ascended  in 
the  hopes  of  finding  a  way  to  the  Pacific  and 
to  the  Chinese  trading  there.  Of  course,  the 
Mobile  waters  were  well  known,  and  frinaed 
with  industrious  plantations.  In  1714,  Bien- 
ville took  advantage  of  a  war  between  the 
Creeks  and  English  colonists  to  found  Fort 
Toulouse  among  the  Alibamon  Indians,  below 
Wetumpka,  a  move  of  great  importance,  and 
Fort  Tombecbe  high  up  on  the  Tombigbee 
was  one  good  result  of  the  unfortunate  1 736 
war  with  the  Chickasaws. 

Trade  was  at  the  bottom  of  everything. 
The  Spaniards  of  Pensacola  and  Vera  Cruz 
refused  all  commercial  intercourse,  and  there 
was  little  more  success  with  Havana.  There 
was   some   smuggling,    however,   and  a  good 


oo 


6  Mobile 


deal  was  accomplished  throii^di  the  buccaneers 
and  freebooters  who  roved  the  Gulf,  But  the 
Indians  needed  blankets,  guns  and  ammuni- 
tion, beads  and  gewgaws,  and  could  supply 
furs,  skins  and  provisions.  Much  could  have 
been  done  in  the  way  of  agriculture,  but,  be- 
yond introducintr  ficrs  and  raising  some  veije- 
tables  for  local  use  and  indigo  for  export,  the 
colonists  accomplished  little.  They  were  not 
of  the  right  kind.  At  first  they  were  from 
too  high  a  rank  in  society  to  do  much  manual 
labor,  and  after  John  Law  and  his  Mississippi 
Bubble  exploited  the  province  they  were  often 
jail-birds  and  prostitutes.  Starvation  faced 
them  every  now  and  then  ;  mutiny  was  not  un- 
known ;  and  quarrels  of  priest  and  command- 
ant, governor  and  intendant,  were  going  on 
almost  all  the  time. 

And  yet  in  war  and  diplomac)'  they  did 
much.  It  was  mainly  with  the  Indians,  al- 
though once  Pensacola  was  captured  from  the 
Spanish,  and  Dauphine  Island  suffered  from 
both  Spanish  and  English  attacks.  The 
Choctaws  and  Creeks  were  held  in  alliance  by 
contrresses  at  Mobile ;  the  Cherokees  and 
Chickasaws  were  sometimes  friendly,  and 
the  Mississippi  River  was  kept  open  for  free 


-J    ■■.  H    -  ^^  ■ 


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.'  ^  ■  ■^'"    : »^ 


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'    I  W       '"^      'I^  .     "^    '        "^     ' 


[i  l: 


rr:3>»;.;;±';ii:v.r. ■:;.:::..;  r'"    ■■•  ;  •■ 

:       ...        ..A:'*',.     ,-1  :  -^•.  .^■. 


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rt     I        '^1     e- 


338  Mobile 

intercourse  with  Canada  and  the  IlHnois. 
Toulouse,  Tombecbe,  Biloxi,  Natchez,  Nat- 
chitoches, and,  later.  New  Orleans  and  Fort 
Chartres  and  other  Mississippi  outposts,  show 
the  extent  of  French  influence  from  the  capi- 
tal at  Mobile. 

In  1 710,  the  site  of  this  town  had  been 
moved  from  27  Mile  Bluff  to  where  the  river 
joins  the  bay.  There  the  new  Fort  Louis  was 
built,  at  first  of  logs,  as  shown  on  the  plan  of 
next  year,  and  afterwards  of  brick,  as  Fort 
Conde.  Its  foundations  still  exist  below  the 
soil  of  the  block  bounded  by  Church,  Theatre, 
Royal  and  St.  Emanuel  Streets,  with  bastions 
projecting  across  Royal  and  Church.  Around 
it  was  laid  out  the  town,  with  Royal,  Conti, 
Dauphin  and  other  streets  just  as  to-day;  and 
lots  were  assiofned  to  Bienville,  the  sailor 
Chateaugue,  the  soldier  Blondel,  the  explorer 
St.  Denis,  the  engineer  La  Tour,  to  the  priests 
and  others.  For  several  years  affairs  were 
generally  prosperous. 

The  shoaling  of  the  port  on  Dauphine  Island 
in  1 71 7  led  to  the  removal  somewhat  later  of 
the  capital  from  Mobile,  at  first  to  Biloxi,  and 
then  to  the  dauorhter-town,  New  Orleans;  and 
this  made  a  great  difference.      But  the  fort  was 


Mobile  339 

not  abandoned  and  the  place  remained  impor- 
tant. The  Indian  congresses  were  always  held 
here,  probably  at  the  Indian  house  of  posts 
and  bark,  once  standing  on  the  site  of  the 
German  Relief  Hall.  There  was  the  annual 
distribution  of  presents,  too,  with  talks  and 
solemn  smokinof,  and  Mobile  was  the  centre  of 
French  influence  for  all  Indian  affairs.  Choc- 
taws  and  Creeks  were  always  on  the  streets. 
The  trade  road  northwestwardly  to  Yowanne 
and  other  Choctaw  towns  has  become  Spring 
Hill  Avenue,  connecting  Dauphin  Street  with 
the  suburban  homes  of  Spring  Hill,  and  its 
portage  at  Three-Mile  Creek  was  long  the 
boundary  of  the  modern  city. 

The  little  town  had  its  society,  its  church 
and  homes,  its  public  and  private  history. 
There  are  two  executions  of  peculiar  horror 
which  are  said  to  have  occurred  on  the  espla- 
nade of  the  fort,  possibly  where  now  stands 
the  Court-House.  One  was  when  Beaudrot, 
who  under  compulsion  had  guided  to  safety 
the  men  who  killed  the  cruel  governor  of 
Cat  Island,  was  placed  in  a  coffin  and 
sawn  asunder.  The  other  was  when  a  similar 
punishment  even  earlier  fell  upon  the  muti- 
neers of  Fort  Toulouse  who  murdered  their 


340  Mobile 

commandant,  Marchand,  through  an  Indian 
princess,  ancestor  of  the  Creek  chief  McGil- 
Hvray,  of  Washington's  time.  A  pleasanter 
remembrance  of  Toulouse,  perhaps  also  in 
Marchand's  time,  was  the  romance  of  Mad- 
ame D'Aubant.  Tradition  makes  her  to  have 
been  that  wife  of  Alexis  Petrovich,  the  son  of 
Peter  the  Great,  who  was  thought  to  have 
died  suddenly  in  Russia.  She  only  feigned 
death,  however,  and  escaped  to  America.  At 
Mobile  she  met  D'Aubant,  an  old  or  new 
lover,  and,  when  he  was  stationed  at  the  fort 
amone  the  Alibamons,  went  there  with  him, 
taking-  their  little  o^irl.      After  his  death  she  re- 

o  o 

turned  to  Europe. 

Mutiny  was  confined  to  the  outposts,  but 
Mobile  had  its  own  troubles.  After  Bienville 
finally  left  the  colony  in  1 740,  French  influ- 
ence over  the  Indians  declined.  Even  he  had 
been  unable  to  restore  the  confidence  and 
prestige  lost  through  Perier's  harsh  treatment 
of  the  Natchez.  By  the  Tennessee  valley  and 
a  land  trail  above  Fort  Toulouse  passing  not 
far  from  modern  Birmino-ham,  the  English  from 
Carolina  increased  their  hold  on  the  Chicka- 
saws,  and  by  Adair's  address  had  even  pro- 
voked a  civil  war  among  the  Choctaws, 


Mobile  341 

Mobile  became  unsafe,  and  Vaudreuil  con- 
nected the  three  squares  north  with  Fort 
Conde  by  palisades,  having  gates  at  the  espla- 
nade, Dauphin  Street,  and  by  the  present  post- 
office.  So  reduced  was  the  city  that  a  grant 
was  made  to  Madame  cle  Lusser  of  the  south 
and  west  parts  of  the  old  town  for  a  planta- 
tion, to  be  cultivated  by  her  slaves. 

This  was  one  of  many  grants,  but  the  others 
Avere  not  so  near.  The  earliest  known  was 
that  of  a  part  of  Dauphine  Island,  another  of 
Mon  Louis  Island  (really  a  part  of  the  main- 
land), and  the  St.  Louis  tract  between  Three- 
Mile  creek  and  Chickasabogue,  above  the  city. 
This  was  where  the  Christian  Apalaches  lived, 
whom  Bienville  had  colonized  on  their  flight 
from  Florida,  as  he  did  the  Tensaws,  whom  he 
rescued  from  extinction  on  the  Mississippi. 
These  two  tribes  became  civilized,  and  were 
moved  to  the  east  side  of  the  Mobile  delta, 
where  they  gave  names  to  large  rivers.  French 
farmers  settled  all  through  the  country,  as  far 
up  as  the  Tombigbee,  possibly  as  Bladon 
Springs,  and  along  Mobile  Bay  and  Mississippi 
Sound.  French  names  still  abound,  and  some 
have  been  only  translated.  F)og  River,  Deer 
River,  Fowl  River,  Fish  River,  Red  Bluff,  are 


342  Mobile 

translations,  and  Bayou  Chateaugue  (or  Three- 
Mile  Creek)  still  recalls  Bienville's  sailor 
brother,  as  does  Pont  Chatooga  on  Dauphine 
Island,  and  Grand  Bay  ;  Isle  aux  Oies,  Bayou 
Coden  (Coq  d'  Inde),  Bayou  la  Batre  (bat- 
terie),  Bon  Secours  and  others  are  French  to 
this  day.  Of  French  families,  Grondel,  Favre, 
Lusser,  Narbonne,  Chastang,  Dubroca,  and 
Rochon  were  important. 

But  the  French  development  was  now  to 
cease.  The  Seven  Years'  War  had  come,  with 
the  world  for  its  staore.  In  that  war  America 
and  India  saw  less  fighting  than  Europe,  but 
their  maps  were  more  changed.  The  English 
colonies  had  hitherto  fringed  the  Atlantic,  the 
French  inhabited  the  banks  of  the  St.  Law- 
rence and  Mississippi,  with  posts  between  ;  but 
Wolfe's  victory  on  the  Plains  of  Abraham 
caused  the  transfer  to  England  of  all  America 
east  of  the  Mississippi,  except  New  Orleans. 
On  October  20,  1763,  Colonel  Robertson,  with 
a  company  of  Highlanders,  took  possession  of 
Mobile.  Fort  Conde  became  Fort  Charlotte, 
named  for  the  young  queen  of  George  III., 
and  seventeen  years  of  British  rule  began. 

This  was  not  a  long  time,  and  yet  in  it  was 
much  change.      It  has  been  only  recently  made 


Mobile 


;43 


clear  how  thoroughly  British  everything  be- 
came. Mather,  Ancrum,  Stuart,  McGillivray, 
McCurtin,  in  Mobile ;  Walker,  Carson,  Mc- 
Grew,  Sunflower,  Lizard,  Campbell,  and  Mc- 
intosh up  the  river,  were  well-known  merchants 


THE  BAY  SHELL  ROAD  AT  LOVERS'  LANE. 


or  settlers,  and  some  of  these  families  or  sites 
still  survive.  Attorney-General  Edmund  Rush 
Wegg  had  a  home  on  Mobile  Bay  near  Bat- 
tle's, and  Governor  Durnford,  to  whom  when 
provincial  surveyor  we  owe  the  first  chart  of 
the  bay  (1771),  lived  near  Montrose.  The 
machinery  of  government  was  fully  developed. 


344  Mobile 

The  governor,  council  and  assembly  sat  at 
Pensacola,  the  capital,  and  Mobile  delegates 
were  leaders  there  in  what  Governor  Chester 
calls  the  "  cantankerous  "  lower  house.  Mo- 
bile was  the  largest  town  in  the  vast  province 
of  West  Florida,  which  extended  from  the 
Mississippi  to  the  Chattahoochee  River,  and 
had  her  own  common  law  courts.  A  British 
custom-house  was  in  full  operation.  We  learn 
much  from  the  military  exploration  of  the  Big- 
bee  by  Romans's  and  Bartram's  botanical  expe- 
dition, but  most  from  the  papers  of  General 
Haldimand,  who  was  long  in  W^est  Florida. 
They  are  preserved  in  the  British  Museum,  and 
have  been  copied  for  the  Canadian  govern- 
ment. The  collection  is  a  mine  for  American 
history  in  the  late  sixties  and  early  seventies. 
He  pronounced  Mobile  that  part  of  the  prov- 
ince best  fitted  for  development. 

The  British  established  on  the  Mississippi 
two  forts  that  were  the  origin  of  Natchez  and 
Baton  Rouge,  and  also  the  one  where  the 
Iberville  River  (Bayou  Manchac)  left  the  Mis- 
sissippi to  take  off  its  surplus  waters  to  Lake 
Pontchartrain  and  the  Sound.  Thence  the 
communication  with  Mobile  was  covered  by  a 
chain   of   islands,   of  which   Dauphine   is    the 


Mobile  345 

easternmost.  This  Bayou  Lake  Sound  passage 
the  British  endeavored  to  clear  out  and  utilize, 
it  beinor  shorter  than  the  ascent  from  the 
river  mouth,  which  also  they  had  a  treaty  right 
to  use.  In  this  way  Mobile  became  a  depot 
and  starting-point  for  expeditions  up  the  Mis- 
sissippi River  to  the  Illinois  and  other  parts  of 
the  great  West.  Major  Loftus  started  thence 
on  his  disastrous  attempt  to  take  possession, 
and  the  famous  Major  Robert  Farmer  suc- 
cessfully ascended  from  Mobile,  and  in  con- 
junction with  a  force  from  the  east  occupied 
Fort  Chartres.  Locally  the  most  important 
feature  of  British  times  was  the  Choctaw  con- 
gress of  1 765,  which  began  for  this  part  of 
America  the  process  of  "extinguishing  the 
Indian  title."  The  French  had  acted  as  if  the 
natives  were  subjects  of  their  king  and  all 
territory  was  French.  The  English  theory 
was  that  the  savages  were  under  a  protector- 
ate, but,  while  they  could  not  treat  with  other 
nations,  their  lands  remained  their  own  until 
bought  by  the  Crown.  This  is  the  modern 
doctrine  of  civilized  nations  as  to  all  savage 
countries,  and  the  United  States  have  regu- 
larly acted  on  it. 

The  French  had  found  no  trouble  with  the 


346  Mobile 

climate  or  the  marshes  of  the  Mobile  delta,  but 
the  British  troops  were  less  careful,  and  for 
several  years  suffered  greatly.  Summer  camps 
were  provided,  one  year  on  historic  Dauphine 
Island,  and  longer  at  "  Croftown,"  on  the  high 
red  bluff  below  Montrose,  where  the  eye  com- 
mands the  full  expanse  of  the  beautiful  upper 
bay,  and  where  the  British  ships  could  lie  at 
anchor  within  musket-shot  of  the  sandy  beach. 
The  troops  one  year  were  practically  with- 
drawn from  all  Florida  on  account  of  the 
expense  of  the  establishments  ;  but,  as  New 
Orleans  was  in  Spanish  hands,  prudence  com- 
pelled their  early  restoration.  A  popular  revo- 
lution broke  out  in  New  Orleans,  followed  by 
a  strong  Spanish  occupation,  and  the  British 
at  Mobile  found  it  expedient  to  watch  their 
neighbors  closely. 

When  war  began  in  Europe  between  these 
two  powers,  the  American  colonies  on  the 
Atlantic  were  in  revolt  against  Great  Britain. 
West  Florida,  under  the  overcautious  Gen- 
eral Campbell,  was  weak  in  military  force. 
Louisiana,  on  the  other  hand,  with  Mexico 
and  Cuba  at  her  back,  and  ruled  by  the  young, 
able,  and  ambitious  Galvez,  was  strong.  The 
result  was  what  might  have  been  expected. 


Mobile  347 

Galvez  reduced  the  Mississippi  forts  in  the 
fall  of  1779,  and  the  next  spring  attacked 
Mobile  by  land,  after  an  adventurous  voyage. 
Durnford  was  in  command,  but  he  had  only 
two  hundred  and  seventy-five  men  with  which 
to  oppose  two  thousand.  A  cannonade,  and 
Campbell's  slowness  in  sending  aid,  compelled 
a  capitulation  on  March  14th,  and  the  district 
became  Spanish.  Next  year,  Pensacola  also 
succumbed.  The  treaty  of  1 783  confirmed  the 
Floridas  to  Spain,  and  gave  the  English  but 
a  few  months  to  sell  their  property  and  leave. 

During  the  intervening  years.  Mobile  was 
under  military  rule,  but  affairs  gradually  settled 
down  to  a  peace  basis.  Many  British  aban- 
doned their  houses  or  farms,  and  left  them  as 
the  property  of  his  Catholic  Majesty.  The 
King,  after  an  inquest  showing  their  vacancy, 
regranted  them,  in  different  sizes,  to  his  own 
subjects,  and  even  to  British  who  had  taken  an 
oath  of  allegiance.  In  this  way,  the  grants  still 
existing  are  generally  new,  and  can  seldom  be 
traced  back  to  English  owners.  Courts  were 
held  by  alcaldes,  and  the  commandant,  as  civil 
(political)  and  military  governor,  also  exercised 
judicial  power.  Many  proclamations,  grants, 
suits,  wills  and  inventories  of  this  time  are  still 


348  Mobile 

preserved  in  the  Probate  Court.  They  are  in 
thin  books  of  rough  paper,  the  size  of  legal 
cap,  with  curious  old  watermarks  showing 
through  the  Spanish  text. 

The  Spaniards  renamed  many  of  the  streets. 
St.  Joseph  survives  instead  of  St.  Charles,  and 
St.  Emanuel,  Conception,  Joachim,  St.  An- 
thony and  St.  Michael  also  superseded  French 
names.  On  the  other  hand,  St.  Francis,  St. 
Louis,  Conti,  Dauphin  and  Royal  have  out- 
lasted the  Spanish  changes.  The  population 
remained  essentially  French.  Negro  slavery 
had  existed  since  the  importations  in  the  time 
of  John  Law,  and  there  were  many  negroes 
and  mulattoes,  themselves  owning  land  and 
slaves.  But  the  commandant,  the  keeper  of 
the  royal  hospital,  in  what  is  now  Bienville 
Square,  the  royal  physician,  the  commissary, — 
for  a  long  time  Don  Miguel  Eslava, — officers 
of  the  garrison  and  other  officials  were  Span- 
ish, and  with  their  families  and  the  priest  made 
up  an  important  part  of  the  population. 

For  the  first  eight  or  ten  years  even  official 
papers  were  often  in  French  ;  but  after  the 
out-break  of  the  great  Revolution,  everything 
French  fell  into  disfavor.  Proclamations 
posted  on  the  gate  of  Fort  Charlotte,  not  far 


^*x/»^'   J 


350  Mobile 

from  Royal  and  Government  of  our  day,  ex- 
pressed the  horror  of  the  Spanish  King  at  the 
crimes  of  that  great  upheaval,  and  called  his 
children  to  a  holy  war.  But  Spain  had  her 
hands  full  in  Europe,  and  the  progress  of  her 
half-French  post  at  Mobile  was  checked.  No 
large  public  buildings  were  erected,  and  most 
of  the  private  dwellings  were  small.  They 
have  been  almost  swept  away  by  fires,  but 
the  type  is  preserved  in  old  American  homes. 
It  was  generally  of  frame,  filled  in  between 
with  mortar.  In  front  was  a  wide  porch,  or 
gallery,  as  it  is  invariably  called,  often  extend- 
ing around  the  house,  and  a  long  hall,  going  all 
the  way  through,  opened  into  rooms  on  each 
side.  The  chimneys  were  generally  of  native 
brick,  and  house  and  surrounding  picket  fence 
were  whitewashed.  The  many  shells  furnished 
lime,  the  clay  by  Montrose  and  west  of  the 
city  was  utilized  for  brickyards,  while  on  Dog 
River,  on  creeks  above  the  town  and  on  bay- 
ous across  Tensaw  River,  were  sawmills.  These 
industries  have  all  continued.  In  agriculture 
cotton  was  important,  but  freshets  made  indigo 
unprofitable. 

Most  of  the  cotton  came  from  up  the  rivers, 
as  around  Fort  St.  Stephen,  where  are  the  first 


Mobile 


351 


shoals  of  the  Tombigbee.      But  the  deHmita- 
tion,   so  long  demanded  by  the  new  country 


THE  ELLICOTT  STONE. 


called  the  United  States  was  finally  run  at  31°, 
and  cut  Mobile  off  from  her  river  system. 
The  treaty  was  made  in  1795,  and  four  years 


OD- 


Mobile 


later  Andrew  Ellicott,  of  the  joint  commission, 
erected  near  the  Creole  settlement  of  Chas- 
tang's,  twenty  miles  from  Mobile,  the  stone 
which  marked  the  boiindar)-.  The  result  was  a 
rapid  influx  of  Americans  north  of  the  line, 
and  the  formation  of  the  Mississippi  Territory. 

The  hoistinor  of  the  American  i\a.<y  at  Fort 
St.  Stephen  began  the  marvellous  develop- 
ment and  expansion  of  the  United  States. 
Kentucky  and  Tennessee  became  States,  and 
Louisiana  was  purchased,  by  which  the  Union 
crossed  the  Mississippi.  Finally,  during-  the 
War  of  1812,  General  James  Wilkinson  took 
possession  of  Mobile  on  April  15,  18 13.  This 
was  on  the  theory,  consistently  adhered  to  by 
our  Government,  that  Mobile  was  still  a  part 
of  Louisiana.  Whether  the  theory  would 
have  been  carried  out  if  Spain  had  been  a 
strong  power  at  the  time  is  a  different  question. 

So  Mobile  became  American,  the  seaport  of 
Mississippi  Territory,  whose  extent  was  much 
that  of  the  old  British  province  of  West  Flor- 
ida. The  chief  difference  was  that,  as  its  south 
line  was  at  31°,  there  was  no  seacoast  except 
about  Mobile,  and  that  this  was  compensated 
by  giving  a  greater  extent  to  the  north. 
When   the   territory  was   divided   in   two,   the 


Mobile  353 

west  half  made  Mississippi  and  the  east  be- 
came Alabama,  embracing  roughly  the  basins 
draining  to  Mobile  Bay. 

Most  of  Wilkinson's  soldiers  came  via  New 
Orleans,  but  Mobile  was  really  Americanized 
from  the  up-country.  Washington  County,  that 
vast  district  of  the  territory  on  both  sides 
of  the  Tombigbee,  had  been  rapidly  settled 
after  the  Spaniards  withdrew.  The  Metho- 
dist, Lorenzo  Dow,  repeatedly  ministered 
there  on  his  meteor  circuits.  St.  Stephen's, 
Tensaw  and  Fort  Stoddert  became  centres 
of  influence.  American  courts  were  regularly 
held  at  Wakefield,  and  American  civilization 
was  firmly  established  in  the  first  few  years 
of  this  century.  The  Government  was  strong 
enough,  in  1807,  even  to  capture  the  popular 
Aaron  Burr,  near  the  Court  House  on  his 
flight  from  Natchez  to  the  Spanish  lines,  and 
to  send  him  on  to   Richmond  for  trial. 

This  development  was  largely  in  anticipation 
of  the  occupation  of  Mobile,  and  when  that  oc- 
curred many  people  moved  thither.  Some  of 
the  oldest  families  trace  their  ancestors  to 
Washington  County.  St.  Stephen's  was  al- 
most as  much  the  first  site  of  American  Mo- 
bile as  27  Mile  Bluff  was  of  the  French  town  ; 


354 


Mobile 


and  both  are  now  as  deserted  as  Nineveh. 
Even  an  American  rival,  the  younger  town  of 
Blakeley,  over  on  the  Tensaw  River,  has  suc- 
cumbed and  joined  its  people  to  the  Gulf  City. 


PLACE  WHERE  AARON   BURR  WAS  CAPTURED. 


Much  of  Mobile's  American  growth  has  been 
due  to  immigration  from  the  upriver  counties. 
For  the  first  few  years  the  great  Creek 
War  prevailed,  which  resulted  in  driving  the 
Creeks  east  of  a  line  running  southeast  from 
old  Fort  Toulouse.  It  was  begun  by  the  mas- 
sacre of  perhaps  five  hundred  men,  women 
and    children    at   Fort   Minis,   in  the  Tensaw 


Mobile  355 

district,  terrifying  the  whole  Southwest.  It 
did  not  reach  Mobile,  but  a  blockhouse  was 
built  near  the  present  cathedral.  The  war  was 
marked  by  thrilling  scenes  in  Washington 
County  and  the  fork  made  by  the  Alabama 
and  Bigbee ;  by  such  incidents  as  the  Canoe 
Fight  on  the  lower  Alabama  River  and  Aus- 
tin's night  ride  ;  and  by  Claiborne's  storming  of 
the  Holy  Ground.  In  it  Andrew  Jackson  won 
his  fame  up  on  the  Coosa  and  Tallapoosa 
by  such  battles  as  that  of  the  Horse  Shoe 
Bend.  When  he  had  made  peace  with  the 
brave  Creek  Weatherford,  and  sent  Pushma- 
taha and  the  allied  Choctaws  home,  he  floated 
down  to  Mobile. 

And  there  was  need.  The  British  were  pre- 
paring to  invade  the  country.  Four  vessels 
under  Commodore  Percy  attacked  Fort  Bow- 
yer  at  the  mouth  of  the  bay,  but  Lawrence 
with  the  garrison  brilliantly  repelled  them. 
His  motto  was,  "  Don't  give  up  the  fort."  The 
Hermes  drifted  directly  under  his  guns  and 
was  fired,  and  then  the  others  withdrew.  In- 
dians, under  Woodbine,  were  on  land  near  by, 
but  had  no  opportunity  to  participate. 

Jackson  reconnoitred  around  Mobile.  His 
headquarters  are  said  to  have  been  at  an  old 


35^  Mobile 

Spanish  building,  standing  until  a  few  years, 
since  at  the  southwest  corner  of  Conti  and 
Conception  Streets,  opposite  the  site  of  the 
Indian  House  of  former  times  ;  but  the  troops 
were  encamped  south  of  the  town,  near  F"ras- 
cati.  A  tree  under  which  he  dined  used  to 
be  pointed  out  over  Three-Mile  Creek,  and  a 
magnificent  Jackson  Oak  is  still  shown  at  the 
village  on  the  bay  above  Daphne,  commemo- 
rating a  stop  on  the  way  to  the  capture  of 
Pensacola.  It  was  from  Mobile  that  he  issued 
the  two  famous  proclamations  to  Louisianians, 
white  and  black  ;  and  the  first  staee  of  his 
march  westward  to  win  the  battle  of  New  Or- 
leans was  at  that  beautiful  spot  near  Cottage 
Hill  ever  since  called  the  Cantonment. 

After  their  defeat  at  New  Orleans,  the 
British  reappeared  at  Mobile  in  overwhelming 
force.  Fort  Bowyer  now  had  to  surrender, 
and  Dauphine  Island  was  for  months  occupied 
by  British  troops.  But  the  treaty  of  Ghent 
caused  its  restoration,  and  Mobile  settled  down 
to  its  long  American  development. 

"  Peace  hath  its  victories  no  less  renowned 
than  war,"  but  they  have  less  of  incident. 
The  settlement  of  Alabama,  the  immigration 
from  the   Atlantic   States    to    the   lands    won 


Mobile 


jj/ 


in  the  Creek  War.  developed  her  Gulf  port. 
Cotton  was  king,  and  it  made  her  queen.  Even 
in  1818,  the  year  before  Alabama  became  a 
State,  Mobile  had  established  her  Bank  of 
Mobile,  and  primitive  steamboats,  such  as  the 
Harriet  and  Cotton  Plant,  built  much  on  the 
model  of  Fulton's  Clermont,  were  already 
plying  the  rivers. 

Everything  was  rude,  as  in  frontier  towns, 
but  here  could  be  found  all  kinds  of  people. 
Bertrand,  Comte  Clausel,  the  distinguished 
opponent  of  Wellington  in  Spain,  lived  for  a 
number  of  years  after  1816  on  the  bay,  near 
present  Arlington,  the  possible  site  of  Bien- 
ville's villa.  Here  he  wrote  his  Expose  Jiisti- 
catif,  explaining  that  defection  to  Napoleon 
during  the  Hundred  Days  for  which  the  Bour- 
bons condemned  him  to  death  ;  and  here  he 
raised  vegetables  and  carried  them  to  market 
in  his  own  wagon.  Through  Mobile  passed 
those  other  Napoleonic  exiles  who,  in  18 18, 
ascended  the  Bigbee  to  found  the  unfortunate 
Vine  and  Olive  company,  in  what  was  called 
for  them  Marengo  County.  Near  Clausel 
lived  Lakanal,  the  regicide,  the  creator  of  the 
educational  system  of  revolutionary  France. 
He    was    for   a    short    time    president  of  the 


358  Mobile 

Orleans  College  of  Louisiana  ;  but  with  his  wife, 
Marie  Barbe,  he  also  spent  most  of  his  Amer- 
ican life  raisincr  market  ve^^etables  in  Garrow's 
Bend.  Tradition  says  that  he  and  his  neigh- 
bor Clausel  brought  their  political  differences 
with  them,  and  would  not  associate.  He  was 
violently  opposed  to  Lafayette.  That  great 
Frenchman  was  enthusiastically  welcomed  to 
Mobile  in  1825.  Arches  were  erected  on 
Royal  Street,  and  he  is  said  to  have  been  en- 
tertained at  the  house  on  Government  Street 
opposite  the  Presbyterian  Church.  Bernhard, 
Duke  of  Saxe-Weimar,  included  America  in 
his  grand  toiu%  and  in  January,  1826,  he  also 
was  at  Mobile.  He  does  not  mention  Laka- 
nal  at  all,  nor  the  Protestant  Union  Church, 
built  a  few  years  before  where  Christ  Church 
stands.  But  the  Catholic  Church  on  Royal 
and  Conti,  with  its  tin  altar  service,  and  the 
three  thousand  people, — French,  American, 
Indian  and  negro, — interested  him;  the  com- 
press, which  by  a  vise  reduced  the  bale  one 
third  ;  the  thirty  vessels  in  the  harbor  waiting 
for  cotton  ;  the  volunteer  company  celebrating 
the  battle  of  New  Orleans  ;  the  wooden  houses 
and  brick  public  buildings,  the  plank  walks 
and  the  gambling-houses,  the  prison,  with  its 


Mobile  359 

whipping-post,  are  all  recorded.  This  marks 
a  great  advance  on  Hodgson's  unpleasing  de- 
scription of  the  place  in  1820,  and,  in  fact, 
Mobile  had  begun  that  progress  which  soon 
distanced  the  progress  of  her  rivals  and  made 
her  in  the  thirties  a  great  city. 

She  was  the  natural  result  of  the  growth  of 
the  interior,  whose  products  in  those  days,  be- 
fore railroads,  could  go  nowhere  except  to 
Mobile.  This  growth  brought  trade,  and  with 
it  immigration.  In  1830,  the  cotton  exported 
exceeded  one  hundred  thousand  bales  ;  in  1837, 
over  three  hundred  thousand,  and  by  1840  was 
almost  four  hundred  and  fifty  thousand.  The 
population  grew  to  twelve  thousand.  The 
results  were  apparent  everywhere.  The  United 
States  Bank  and  the  State  Bank  had  branches, 
and  others  were  organized.  There  was  paper 
money  galore.  Water  and  gas  were  intro- 
duced ;  lands  for  Bienville  Square  were  bought 
by  the  city ;  the  Presbyterian,  Christ  and 
other  churches  were  built ;  a  public  school 
system,  the  first  in  Alabama,  was  organized, 
and  the  Barton  Academy  erected  ;  Hitchcock's 
Press  was  operated,  and  the  Cedar  Point  Rail- 
way and  Grant's  Pass  show  attempts  to  get 
nearer  to  Dauphine  Island  and  the  Sound.     A 


o 


60  Mobile 


lighter  side  of  the  same  activity  was  the  forma- 
tion, in  1830,  by  Michael  Krafft  and  his  merry 
companions  of  the  famous  Cowbellion  de  Rakin 
Society,  the  predecessor  of  the  Strikers,  O.  O. 
M.,  and  every  other  mystic  organization  in  the 
South.  It  was  the  transfer  of  their  celebra- 
tions from  New  Year's  Eve  to  Mardi  Gras 
which  has  made  the  carnival  season  famous. 
The  city  grew  in  all  directions  ;  old  Creole 
homes  gave  way  to  modern  houses,  the  Orange 
Grove  Tract  was  built  up  in  warehouses,  and 
St.  Michael  Street,  because  of  its  shipping  in- 
terests, was  called  the  British  Channel.  New 
streets  were  opened,  Spring  Hill  became  a 
famous  summer  resort,  and  handsome  resi- 
dences soon  adorned  both  shores  of  the  bay. 

Then,  alas,  came  the  panic  of  1837,  in 
which,  however,  the  Bank  of  Mobile  is  said  to 
have  been  one  of  the  four  banks  in  the  whole 
country  which  did  not  suspend.  Everything 
else  seemed  to  go  to  pieces.  Even  the  city  gov- 
ernment made  an  assignment.  To  add  to  the 
distress,  in  1839  was  the  most  disastrous  of  all 
fires,  in  its  two  attacks  sweeping  Royal  Street 
and  Dauphin  and  St.  Francis  up  to  where  the 
cathedral  then  stood  unfinished.  An  epidemic 
of   yellow   fever  the   same   summer   slew   the 


Mobile  361 

inhabitants  as  the  fire  destroyed  their  property. 
The  year  1839  i^  ^^^^  blackest  in  Mobile's  his- 
tory, and  Percy  Walker's  picture  of  that  dire 
summer,  before  the  Alabama  Legislature,  de- 
serves to  rank  high  among  American  orations. 

The  depression  lasted  several  years,  and  be- 
fore complete  recovery  it  became  complicated 
with  a  commercial  problem.  Railroads  had 
been  invented,  and  Mobile  with  all  other  ports 
had  to  face  new  problems.  M.  J.  D.  Baldwin 
preached  the  necessity  of  building  a  Mobile 
road  to  the  growing  West,  but  long  he  was 
laughed  at  as  a  Cassandra.  He  persevered, 
and  in  1848  the  Mobile  &  Ohio  Railroad  was 
begun  towards  Cairo,  Illinois.  It  was  a  mag- 
nificent conception,  and  right  fitting  it  was 
that  Baldwin  should  have  driven  the  last  spike 
of  its  realization.  The  result  was  that  by  i860 
the  cotton  receipts  had  grown  to  eight  hundred 
thousand  bales,  and  the  next  year  were  about 
a  million. 

In  1852  was  a  disastrous  flood,  and  next 
year  the  worst  epidemic  of  her  history  ;  but 
the  results  were  only  temporary.  New  banks, 
like  the  Southern  and  Mechanics  (afterwards 
the  Mobile  Savings),  were  organized,  the 
Battle   House,   Custom-House  and  other  fine 


;62 


Mobile 


buildings  erected,  and  Fort  Gaines  faced  older 
Fort  Morgan  at  the  mouth  of  the  bay.  Soci- 
ety had  long  outgrown  the  crudeness  of  earlier 

days, and  Mobile 
hospitality  and 
refinement  were 
famous.  At  her 
Bar  were  John 
A.  Campbell 
(whose  sister, 
Mrs.  Chandler, 
was  the  grand- 
mother of  the 
Mrs.  Maybrick, 
now  so  famous), 
Daniel  Chand- 
ler, George  X. 
Stewart,  Robert 
H.  Smith,  Peter 
Hamilton,  D.  C. 
Anderson,  Philip  Phillips,  F.  S.  Dargan  and 
other  splendid  lawyers.  In  literature  there 
was  ample  atonement  for  the  neglect  of  early 
days.  Among  Mobile's  books  appeared  in 
1854  Dr.  Nott's  Types  of  Mankind,  and  in 
1859  came  Madame  LeVert's  Sonvcmrs  of 
Travel,   and  Augusta   Evans's  BetilaJi.     John 


JOHN   A     CAMPBELL. 


Mobile  z^o 

Forsyth  and  Charles  C.  Langdon  were  famous 
editors  of  the  time,  and  politics,  of  course,  ran 
high.  The  town  was  generally  Whig,  and  Mr. 
Clay's  welcome  in  1844  was  as  cordial  as  was 
that  of  Jackson  in  earlier  years.  At  that 
time,  by  the  way,  Macready  held  the  boards, 
and  drawled  a  strenuous  objection  to  the  an- 
nouncement on  his  playbills  that  Henry  Clay 
would  be  present  at  one  of  his  perform- 
ances. 

Mobile  theatres,  except  the  last,  have  gener- 
ally burned  after  a  few  years.  The  best  was 
built  by  Caldwell  on  Royal  Street,  near  St. 
Michael,  and  the  best-known  manager  was 
Noah  M.  Ludlow,  who,  with  Sol.  Smith,  oper- 
ated a  Mobile-New  Orleans-St.  Louis  circuit. 
Ludlow  and  Smith  played  a  great  part  in  the 
history  of  the  theatre  in  the  Mississippi  Valley. 
Ludlow's  memoirs  are  an  invaluable  compila- 
tion, and  can  almost  be  claimed  as  a  Mobile 
book,  for  he  long  lived  here.  J.  H.  Hackett, 
Madame  Celeste,  Ellen  Tree,  Edwin  Forrest, 
J.  B.  Booth,  Macready,  H.  Placide,  Charles 
Kean,  Mrs.  Mowatt,  Julia  Dean,  John  T.  Ray- 
mond and  Charlotte  Cushman  were  often  on 
the  Mobile  stage.  The  present  theatre  was 
opened  in    i860,  and  the  late   Speaker  Crisp 


'M 


Mobile 


was  often  about  it  when  his  father  conducted 
it  durino-  the  war. 

Fortunately  for  her,  Mobile  was  not  the  im- 
mediate seat  of 
any  part  of  that 
great  civil  con- 
flict ;  but  she  was 
thoroughly  loyal 
to  the  Confeder- 
ate cause,  and 
furnished  most 
of  her  best  blood 
to  its  support. 
The  Mobile 
Cadets  were  ten- 
dered by  Cap- 
tain Sands  im- 
mediately on 
receipt  of  Presi- 
dent Davis's  call 
for  volunteers, 
and  from  there  went  out,  among  others,  the  3d, 
8th,  2 1  St  and  24th  Alabama  regiments,  the  two 
companies  of  State  Artillery  and  Charpentier's 
and  Watters's  Batteries.  There  are  unmarked 
graves  of  Mobile  boys  from  Pennsylvania  to 
Texas. 


RAPHAEL  SEMMES  IN    1861. 


Mobile  365 

The  Mobile  post-office  in  the  interregnum 
issued  its  much-prized  stamps, — two-cent  black 
and  five-cent  blue.  Later  the  streets  were 
alive  with  Confederate  uniforms,  for  camps 
were  in  the  suburbs,  and  Government  Street 
was  the  scene  of  memorable  reviews.  Society 
even  in  those  war  times  was  often  gay.  Courts, 
too,  continued  open,  although  litigation  was 
limited. 

Groceries  and  staples  changed  hands,  much 
as  ever,  but  at  prices  measured  in  gradually 
depreciating  Confederate  money.  Two  hun- 
dred dollars  for  a  barrel  of  flour,  or  finally 
even  for  a  pair  of  shoes,  and  twelve  hundred 
for  a  suit  of  clothes,  were  not  unknown.  The 
wits  said  that  a  basket  was  as  much  needed  to 
carry  the  paper  money  to  market  as  to  bring 
back  what  it  bought.  After  a  while  co-opera- 
tive associations,  with  agents  all  through  the 
country  to  buy  supplies,  became  necessary  in 
order  to  get  things  to  the  city  at  all.  Coffee 
and  some  other  articles  almost  disappeared, 
and  various  substitutes  were  used.  Books  and 
even  money  were  printed  on  material  that 
once  would  have  been  discarded,  and  the 
rough  Confederate  writing-paper  still  remains 
a  curiosity. 


366  Mobile 

One  new  occupation  came  into  being. 
While  Semmes  of  Mobile,  in  the  privateers 
Sumter  3Si(\  Alabama,  and  Maffitt  in  the  Flor- 
ida, were  destroying  all  Northern  commerce 
which  they  could  find  on  the  ocean,  the  Federal 
navy  was  blockading  Southern  ports.  This 
was  designed  to  prevent  supplies  from  getting 
in  and  cotton  from  getting  out  to  Europe,  and 
thus  doubly  to  cripple  the  South.  Blockade- 
running  by  swift  Confederate  vessels  became 
common  and  often  successful.  The  destina- 
tion of  the  runners  was  generally  the  neutral 
port  of  Nassau,  in  British  West  Indies.  Among 
these  grayish-white  vessels  were  the  Alice, 
Denbigh,  and  Red  Gauntlet.  They  carried, 
according  to  the  size,  from  six  hundred  to 
twelve  hundred  bales  of  cotton,  and  brought 
back  miscellaneous  cargoes,  in  which  drugs 
and  war  stores  usually  figured.  Many  of  them 
were  captured,  and  there  was  no  insurance  ; 
but  others  made  a  dozen  or  more  successful 
trips.  The  Heroine,  now  used  as  a  bay  boat, 
was  one  of  the  small  blockade-runners.  A 
Mobile  Presbyterian  minister  took  his  wedding 
trip  on  the  Szuan,  bound  for  Nassau,  but  was 
captured  with  his  bride  and  taken  North. 

Fort  Morgan,  under  General  Page,  was  well 


Mobile 


367 


equipped,  and  kept  the  blockaders  at  a  re- 
spectful distance.  Shots  were  frequently  ex- 
changed between  them  and  the  fort,  and 
sometimes,  when  they  ventured  to  anchor  too 


C.  S.  S.   "FLORIDA"   ENTERING   MOBILE   BAY,   SEPT.   4     '862. 

FROM    A    PAINTING    BY    R.    S.    FLOYD. 

near  the  coast,  they  were  surprised  by  a  ball 
from  a  cannon,  run  out  behind  a  sandhill  during 
the  night. 

The  cruiser  Florida  was  one  of  the  ships 
built  in  England  for  the  Confederacy,  and 
turned    over    to    its    authorities    out    at    sea. 


o 


68  Mobile 


Maffitt  took  her  to  Nassau  and  Cuba,  but,  as 
his  small  crew  was  sick  with  yellow  fever,  and 
he  needed  further  equipment,  he  made  for  Mo- 
bile. Personatincr  an  Ensj:lish  vessel,  the  Flor- 
ida,  in  broad  daylight  on  September  4,  1862, 
ran  by  the  Oneida,  Winona  and  Cayuga  into 
Mobile  Bay,  amid  a  hail  of  shot  and  shell. 
She  remained  four  months,  mainly  in  the  deep 
water  off  Montrose.  The  Union  fleet  was 
strengthened,  and  was  on  the  watch  for  her  to 
come  out.  But  Mafhtt,  on  Januar)-  i6th,  before 
day,  ran  through  the  blockaders  again,  to  their 
great  chagrin,  and,  although  chased,  got  away 
to  capture  prizes  off  the  coast  of  Cuba.  As  it 
turned  out,  the  only  way  the  Federals  were 
able  to  capture  the  Florida  was  in  the  neutral 
port  of  Bahia,  while  her  captain  was  ashore, — 
a  flagrant  breach  of  international  law. 

About  Mobile  a  line  of  land  fortificatfons 
was  early  built,  at  first  too  far  out  to  be  held 
by  a  small  force.  The  entrenchments  are  still 
visible  two  miles  from  town,  the  most  promi- 
nent being  Fort  Sidney  Johnson,  on  the  bay  be- 
yond Frascati.  Afterwards  one  or  more  lines 
were  constructed  nearer  in,  and  remains  lately 
could  be  seen  near  the  head  of  St.  Joseph 
Street,  on  both   sides   of  Government  east  of 


Mobile  369 

Ann  Street,  near  the  Bascombe  race  track  and 
near  the  Southern  Draui.  Slave  labor  built 
them  under  the  supervision  of  Engineers  Pil- 
lans  and  Van  Scheliha,  These  redoubts  were 
never  much  used,  however.  The  great  battles 
for  Mobile  were  fought  at  the  mouth  of  the 
bay  and  near  Blakeley. 

Obstructions  and  torpedoes  filled  the  chan- 
nels between  Forts  Gaines  and  Morgan,  except 
for  a  short  distance  immediately  under  the 
guns  of  Morgan.  Within  the  bay  lay  the 
Confederate  fleet,  consisting  of  three  gun- 
boats and  the  powerful  ram  Tennessee.  This 
vessel  had  been  built  during  1863  and  1864 
at  Selma,  and  was  equipped  with  five-inch 
iron  armor  at  Mobile.  As  she  drew  thirteen 
feet,  while  the  Dog  River  bar  allowed  but 
eight  or  nine,  wooden  caissons  were  sunk 
and  attached  to  her,  and  when  they  were 
pumped  out  they  raised  and  lifted  her  also. 
The  whole  Confederate  fleet  mustered  but  four 
hundred  and  seventy  men  and  twenty-two  guns, 
while  the  Federal  consisted  of  fourteen  steam- 
ers and  four  monitors,  carrying  twenty-seven 
hundred  men  and  one  hundred  and  ninety-nine 
guns. 

Farragut   started    on    his    perilous    passage 


Z7^  Mobile 

early  in  the  morning  of  August  5th,  his  vessels 
lashed  in  pairs,  the  monitor  Tectimseh  in  the 
lead.  Then  came  the  Brooklyn  with  her  mate, 
and  next  the  flagship  Hartfo7'd,  the  Admiral 
in  the  rigging.  As  the  stately  procession 
neared  the  fort,  all  engaged  on  both  sides  in  a 
murderous  cannonade.  Suddenly  the  Tecumseh 
lurched,  and,  in  a  few  seconds,  sank,  struck  by 
a  torpedo.  The  Brooklyn,  despite  her  torpedo 
protector,  wavered  and  backed,  confusing  the 
whole  column,  and  giving  the  gunners  in  the 
fort  an  opportunity  of  which  they  made  good 
use.  But  Farragut  pushed  the  Hartford  to 
the  front,  and  restored  order,  leading  the 
others,  amidst  a  galling  fire,  into  the  bay.  A 
little  boat  had  rowed  out  to  save  the  few  who 
did  not  go  down  in  the  Tcctcmseh,  and  the 
Confederates  chivalrously  refused  to  fire  upon 
them,  despite  the  Union  flag  defiantly  run  up. 
The  fleet,  though  much  damaged,  gradually 
passed   in. 

An  enofaofement  followed  with  the  little  Con- 
federate  squadron,  but  the  odds  were  too 
great.  One  gunboat  was  sunk,  another  cap- 
tured, a  third  finally  got  away  to  Mobile,  and 
the  ram  took  shelter,  apparently  for  repairs, 
under  the  guns  of  the  fort.     And  then,  to  the 


Mobile  2>7^ 

astonishment  of  friend  and  foe,  the  Tennessee 
boldly  made  straight  up  the  bay  to  ram  the 
Federal  fleet.  Vessel  after  vessel  rammed  and 
fought  her,  but  she  held  her  own,  unwavering, 
seeking  the  flagship  Hartford,  which,  however, 
was  too  swift  for  her  to  overtake.  She  en- 
pfao^ed  the  whole  fleet  at  once  in  one  of  the 
most  heroic  naval  combats  of  history,  and  did 
not  desist  until  her  plates  were  loosened,  port 
shutters  jammed,  smoke-stack  carried  away, 
many  of  the  crew  wounded,  Admiral  Buchanan 
disabled,  and  the  steering  apparatus  shot  away, 
leaving  her  as  helpless  as  a  log.  Then,  at  last, 
she  hauled  down  her  flag.  Farragut  sent  Bu- 
chanan and  the  wounded  to  Pensacola,  a  ship 
peaceably  passing  the  fort  after  arrangements 
had  been  made  for  that  purpose  under  a  flag 
of  truce. 

Troops  landed  on  Dauphine  Island  had  al- 
ready driven  the  Confederates  into  Fort  Gaines, 
and  it  was  invested  by  land  and  sea.  Farragut 
had  an  interview  with  Col.  Anderson,  convinced 
him  that  resistance  was  useless,  and  thus  induced 
him  to  surrender  the  fort  with  all  its  stores. 
The  Pelham  Cadets,  Mobile's  home  guard  of 
young  men,  had  lately  been  sent  down,  and 
they  were  captured  with  the  regular  garrison. 


2>1^  Mobile 

General  Granger  landed  at  Navy  Cove  with 
an  overwhelming  force,  and  after  approaches, 
run  gradually  closer  from  day  to  day,  by  the 
2 2d  Fort  Morgan  was  completely  invested  by 
army  and  navy.  The  discipline  of  the  garrison 
continued  perfect,  standing  the  test  of  an  un- 
broken bombardment,  whose  thunders  were 
heard  at  Mobile,  thirty  miles  away.  Many 
shells  were  thrown  into  the  fort,  the  citadel 
fired,  and  at  last  the  walls  were  breached  in 
several  places.  Further  defence  was  impos- 
sible, and  after  spending  a  night  in  destroy- 
ing everything  capable  of  destruction  General 
Page  surrendered. 

General  J.  E.  Johnston  is  said  to  have  pro- 
nounced Mobile  the  best  fortified  city  in  the 
Confederacy.  If  the  fortifications  on  or  near 
the  Tensaw  River  could  be  taken,  however, 
transports,  if  not  vessels  of  the  fleet,  could  be 
sent  behind  the  torpedoes  and  obstructions  to 
the  city  wharves. 

Therefore  Canby,  with  forty-five  thousand 
troops,  including  a  column  under  Steele  from 
Pensacola,  undertook  to  overcome  about  five 
thousand  Confederates  in  Spanish  Fort,  which 
was  named  from  the  bastion  built  by  Galvez 
almost  a  century  before.      Randall  L.  Gibson, 


374  Mobile 

since  Senator  from  Louisiana,  was  there  in  com- 
mand, reporting  —  like  Lidell  at  Blakeley  — 
by  telegraph  to  D.  H.  Maury  at  Mobile.  Gib- 
son handled  his  fifteen  hundred  men  admirably 
from  Fort  McDermett  on  the  right,  Red  Fort 
in  the  centre,  and  along  the  line  to  the  swamp, 
which  was  relied  on  to  protect  his  left.  The 
principal  gun  in  his  Red  Fort  was  an  eight- 
inch  Columbiad,  cast  at  Selma  in  1863,  and 
manned  by  Louisiana  artillery,  commanded  by 
Slocum.  This  gun  did  terrible  execution,  and 
dismantled  a  whole  fortification.  But,  while 
the  sand-bags  were  still  removed  for  that  shot, 
Federal  gunners  dismounted  her,  and  killed 
several  men  at  their  posts  by  her  side.^  Span- 
ish Fort  held  out  thirteen  days  against  over 
thirty  thousand  men.  The  riflemen  in  the 
opposing  pits  even  became  friendly,  and  ex- 
changed yarns  and  courtesies.  The  fleet,  af- 
ter three  vessels  had  been  sunk  by  torpe- 
does, picked  up  enough  torpedoes  to  get 
within  range,  and  the  discovery  of  a  passage 
through  the  swamp  made  it  necessary  to 
abandon  the  whole  fort.  Blakeley,  with  its 
garrison  of  about  three  thousand,  was  finally 

'  This  gun,  called  the  Lady  Slocum,  could  long  be  seen  on  Govern- 
ment Street  in  Mobile,  but  is  now  in  New  Orleans. 


Mobile  375 

stormed  on  April  9th,  the  day  Lee  surrendered 
in  Virginia. 

Maury  felt  that  he  could  not  hold  Mobile 
with  only  four  thousand  five  hundred  men,  for 
the  Federals  could  now  attack  from  the  river 
and  land  at  once  ;  and  so  he  withdrew  to  Mer- 
idian, Blakeley  was  the  last  great  battle  of 
the  war. 

The  Federal  troops  occupied  Mobile  imme- 
diately upon  the  surrender  by  Mayor  Slough 
on  April  1 2th,  camping  in  the  suburbs,  on 
Government  Street  and  elsewhere.  One  un- 
fortunate result  was  the  terrible  explosion  on 
May  25th,  from  careless  handling  of  ammuni- 
tion in  a  warehouse  on  Water  and  Lipscomb 
Streets.  There  were  hundreds  killed,  more 
than  $700,000  of  warehouse  property  was 
destroyed,  and  the  whole  business  section 
of  the  city  was  injured.  Such  was  the  return 
of  peace  ! 

Mobile,  since  the  Civil  War,  offers  a  fruitful 
field  for  study.  The  few  flush  years,  when 
commerce  first  revived  ;  Reconstruction,  with 
slaves  over  masters;  bond  issues  from  1870 
on  railroads  that  were  never  built,  resulting  in 
bankruptcy  in   1879;  ^^^  panics  of   1873  ^^^ 


0/ 


76 


Mobile 


1893,  the  first  of  which  depressed  everything, 
while  the  other  showed  that  Mobile  had  be- 
come sound  again  ;  new  railroads  and  commer- 
cial    o-rowth 


m 


every  line,  con- 
sequent on  the 
Government's 
cutting  the  ship 
channel,  twenty- 
three  feet  deep, 
through  the  bars 


AUGUSTA   EVANS  Wrt-SON, 


to 

the     lower 

ba)-  ; 

the   orrow- 

0 

ino- 

0 

rivalry     of 

the 

Gulf     port 

with 

Eastern 

:rade 

to     Latin 

harbors  for  the  Western 
America  and  even  Europe ;  the  passing  of 
the  once  dreaded  yellow  fever ;  the  good 
relations  which  have  existed  between  the 
negroes  and  whites  since  they  were  relieved  of 
outside  interference  ;  the  Cuban  War,  with  its 
American  soldiers  (some  from  Mobile)  en- 
camped on  ground  once  occupied  by  Confed- 
erates, and  the  picturesque  embarkation  of 
troops  for  Santiago  ;  extensive  municipal  im- 
provements ;  impressive  public  structures,  such 


Mobile 


o// 


as  the  Y.  M.  C.  A.  Building,  new  hotels,  and 
the  Semmes  statue  ;  the  advance  of  literature, 
also,  which  has  kept  Augusta  Evans  as  Mrs. 
Wilson,  and  added  Madame  Chaudron,  Father 
Ryan,  T.  C.  De  Leon,  Amelie  Rives,  Hannis 
Taylor,  and  others  : — these  things  are  impor- 
tant, but  are  too  recent  for  detailed  treatment. 
The  net  result,  however,  is  that  Mobile  has 
faced  the  political  questions  growing  out  of  the 
war,  the  commercial  conditions  arising  from 
the  building  of  railroad  systems  eastward,  the 
development  of  independent  cities  in  what  had 
been  her  exclusive  territory,  just  as  she  has  met 
so  many  other  problems  in  her  long  history. 
What  she  could  conquer  she  has  overcome, 
and  for  what  she  must  lose  she  has  substi- 
tuted other  industries.  Lumber,  coal  and  iron 
far  overbalance  the  loss  of  cotton,  and  there  is 
no  mean  array  of  manufactures,  while  her  rail- 
road and  steamship  territory  yearly  increase. 
To-day  her  population,  trade  and  prospects 
are  greater  than  anything  she  has  known  be- 
fore. She  has  had  little  of  the  outside  capital 
which  other  towns  have  enjoyed,  and  she  has 
had  no  "booms."  But  the  great  fire  of  1890, 
the  storm  of  1893,  and  even  pestilence  in  1897 
did   not   daunt   her.       In   wealth,   culture  and 


378 


Mobile 


industry  this  Latin-American  town  has  carved 
out  her  own  place.  Her  shady  streets  and 
drives  invite  visitors,  and  her  pleasant  homes 
shelter  quiet  but  energetic  people.  Born  in 
romance,  baptized  in  fire,  educated  in  com- 
merce, her  past  is  interesting,  her  present 
prosperous,  while  her  future  promises  to  sur- 
pass them  both. 


MONTGOMERY 
THE  CRADLE  OF  THE  CONFEDERACY 

By  GEORGE  PETRIE 

MONTGOMERY  is  best  known  to  the  gen- 
eral reader  as  the  "  Cradle  of  the  Con- 
federacy." He  turns  to  its  history,  if  he  cares 
to  read  it  at  all,  to  get  a  clearer  local  back- 
ground for  the  stirring  scenes  enacted  there  in 
'6 1.  And  it  would  have  been  hard  to  select  for 
them  a  more  appropriate  setting.  For  in  many 
ways  Montgomery  was  then  a  typical  Southern 
town.  Situated  in  the  heart  of  the  cotton 
region,  surrounded  and  supported  by  large  plan- 
tations, it  was  the  centre  of  much  wealth  and 
refinement.  As  the  home  of  Yancey  and  other 
men  of  unusual  ability  and  divergent  politics,  it 
had  been  the  battleground  where  all  phases  of 
secession  were  keenly  discussed.  Moreover, 
although  founded  by  a  New   Englander  and 

379 


;8o 


Montgomery 


OLD  CANNON  OF  BIENVILLE. 


ori^inall}-  named  New  Philadelphia,  it  had 
from  the  first  taken  a  vigorous  part  in  the 
economic  and  political  struggles  which  gradu- 
ally separated  North  and  South. 

To  reach  the 
origin  of  Mont- 
gomery, one 
must  go  back 
nearly  to  the 
beginnintrof  the 
century.  From 
the  misty  tradi- 
tions that  early  gathered  like  an  Indian-sum- 
mer haze  about  the  red  bluffs  on  which  the  city 
now  stands,  the  first  tangible  object  to  emerge 
is  old  ]\Ioore's  log  cabin,  perched  insecurely  on 
the  high  river-bank.  Here  Captain  Woodward 
visited  him,  and  long  afterwards  wrote  :  "  Ar- 
thur IMoore,  the  first  white  man  that  built  a 
house  and  lived  in  it  at  Montgomery,  built 
it  in  the  latter  part  of  1815,  or  early  in  1816. 
The  cabin  stood  upon  the  bluff  above  w^hat 
was  once  called  the  ravine.  .  .  .  The  spot 
where  the  cabin  stood  had  long  gone  into  the 
river  before  I  left  the  country."  Here  it  stood 
high  and  solitary  on  the  crumbling  cliff,  a  pic- 
turesque connecting  link  between  the  legendary 


Montgomery  381 

days  of  the  Indian  Town,  Ecunchatty,  and  the 
bustling  Western  scenes  so  soon  to  follow. 

Barely  two  years  later  the  territorial  govern- 
ment of  Alabama  was  established,  and  the 
prospect  of  protection  under  it  proved  an  in- 
ducement to  the  tide  of  population  then  setting 
strongly  toward  the  Southwest.  Fabulous  re- 
ports of  the  fertility  of  the  soil  got  abroad, 
and  a  steady  stream  of  settlers  poured  across 
from  the  land  office  at  Milledofeville,  Georma, 
through  the  Creek  lands  into  Alabama  terri- 
tory. 

Among  these  pioneers  were  many  men  of 
excellent  family  from  all  parts  of  the  South, 
and  even  from  far  off  New  Enofland.  One  of 
the  earliest  was  Andrew  Dexter,  of  Rhode 
Island,  nephew  of  the  well-known  Samuel  Dex- 
ter, of  Massachusetts.  In  181 7  he  bought  the 
land  on  which  the  eastern  half  of  Montgomery 
now  stands,  and  paid  for  it  later  with  the  assist- 
ance of  John  Falconer,  a  fellow  pioneer  from 
South  Carolina.  Dexter  was  a  man  of  lar^e 
ideas  and  remarkable  foresig^ht,  and  at  once 
recognized  the  importance  of  his  purchase  as  a 
site  for  a  town.  By  the  very  modern  plan  of 
offering  free  lots,  he  persuaded  several  traders 
to  join  his  venture,  and  proceeded  to  lay  off 


382  Montgomery 

his  town.  With  touchinof  faith,  he  reserved 
a  fine  site  on  the  crest  of  the  most  command- 
ing- hill  for  the  future  state  capitol.  It  was  a 
prophetic  dream  that  had  to  wait  thirty  years 
for  its  fulfilment.  Goat-sheds  meanwhile 
adorned  its  brow,  and  gave  it  the  unpoetic 
name,  "  Goat  Hill," 

Among  the  original  settlers  who  came  with 
Dexter  was  John  G,  Klinck,  a  South  Caro- 
linian of  sanguine  and  enthusiastic  tempera- 
ment, who,  writing  years  afterwards  of  the 
town  in  these  early  days,  says : 

"  As  soon  after  this  as  I  could  have  the  centre  pointed 
out  to  me,  I  selected  my  lot,  which  was  a  privilege  of 
first  choice,  and  to  name  the  place,  which  I  called  New 
Philadelphia — and  the  name  was  never  changed  until 
1819,  I  employed  a  Mr,  Bell  to  build  me  a  cabin,  and 
in  showing  him  where,  we  found  on  the  corner  a  post 
oak  in  the  way  of  laying  the  ground  sill,  when  I  immedi- 
ately seized  the  axe  and  felled  it,  remarking  to  Bell, 
*  This  is  the  first  tree  :   future  ages  will  tell  the  tale.'  " 

Immigration  was  brisk,  and  the  high  and 
healthy  bluffs  were  tempting  sites  for  homes. 
So  the  next  year,  1818,  two  more  towns 
sprang  up  in  sight  of  New  Philadelphia.  One 
was  a  mile  or  two  down  stream,  and  bore 
the    name    "  Alabama    Town."      The    other, 


Montgomery  383 

immediately  adjoining,  was  called  "  East  Ala- 
bama Town."  Its  site  is  now  included  in  the 
part  of  Montgomery  west  of  Court  Street. 
The  jealous  rivalry  that  followed  was  seasoned 
with  many  pranks  played  by  one  town  on  the 
other.  The  redoubtable  Mr.  Klinck,  on  one 
chilly  night,  fired  his  musket  with  such  con- 
tinued energy  that  the  neighboring  town  sup- 
posed the  Indians  were  upon  them,  fled  over 
the  river,  and  men,  women  and  children  spent 
the  night  among  the  canes  and  bushes. 

The  inconvenience  of  this  rivalry  soon  be- 
came apparent,  and  on  December  3,  1819,  New 
Philadelphia  and  East  Alabama  Town  were 
united  in  one  town  called  Montgomery,  a  name 
whose  origin  Mr.  Klinck  explains  thus  : 

"  All  was  agreed,  and  the  union  took  place.  Now  for 
the  name  ?  What  shall  be  done  ?  It  will  never  do  to 
call  it  '  New  Philadelphia,'  nor  '  Yankee  Town  '  :  either 
scent  too  strong  for  '  Georgy.'  I  have  it  :  we  will  call  it 
Montgomery,  after  the  county.  It  was  settled  upon  with- 
out a  dissenting  voice,  and  to  the  great  satisfaction  of  all 
concerned,  the  name  being  equally  dear  to  every  Ameri- 
can throughout  the  land." 

On  the  other  hand,  the  Montgomery  Rep2ib- 
lica7i  of  1 82 1  states  very  positively  that  the 
county  was  named  after  Lemuel  Montgomery, 
who  fell  in  the  fieht  aeainst  the  Creek  Indians 


3^4  Montgomery 

at  Horseshoe,  and  the  town  after  Richard 
Montgomery,  who  was  killed  at  Quebec.  Per- 
haps the  river  bluffs  may  have  suggested  to 
local  pride  the  heights  of  Quebec,  or  possibly 
the  true  explanation  is  suggested  in  Klinck's 
last  sentence.  It  was  a  name  equally  satisfac- 
tory to  all  parties.  Like  a  political  platform, 
they  all  accepted  it,  and  then  interpreted  it 
to  suit  their  tastes.  The  origin  of  the  city  in 
the  union  of  two  towns  may  still  be  traced  in 
the  fact  that  the  streets  west  of  lower  Court 
Street  run  at  an  angle  to  those  east  of  it. 
Alabama  Town  stayed  out  of  the  consolidation, 
but  the  union  town  had  superior  resources. 
First  the  business,  then  the  citizens,  drifted 
over,  and  like  the  earlier  Indian  town  it  passed 
into  the  twilight  of  history. 

With  union  came  strength  and  bigger  no- 
tions, and  Montgomery,  in  the  twenties,  was 
a  bustling  little  frontier  town,  full  of  enterprise 
and  ambition.  One  writer,  with  fond  enthusi- 
asm, speaks  of  its  "dense  population."  The 
editor  of  its  first  newspaper  wrote  :  "  Montgom- 
ery, from  its  high  and  airy  situation  .  . 
is  considered  peculiarly  healthy ;  indeed,  many 
resort  to  that  section  during  the  Summer 
months.     .     .     .     For  an  infant  establishment, 


Montgomery  385 

it  may  be  called  a  pleasant,  flourishing  town." 
In  another  issue  he  adds:  "Its  present  popu- 
lation is  about  six  hundred." 

There  was  a  healthy  demand  for  houses,  as 
is  shown  by  the  advertisements  in  the  news- 
paper. One  man  offers  a  gun  and  a  rifle  in 
exchange  for  planks  and  shingles,  and  another 
a  saddle-horse  for  bricks  and  mortar.  A  whole- 
some respect,  at  least,  was  shown  for  learning  in 
the  prompt  establishment  of  schools,  and  in  the 
advertised  arrival  of  such  sturdy  books  as 
Murray's  Gramma}^,  Webster's  Speller,  Watts's 
Psalms  and  Hymns,  and  (for  lighter  use)  song 
and  dream  books.  Town  and  country  struggle 
amusingly  in  the  ordinance  that  imposed  a  tax 
of  fifty  cents  for  every  dog  a  family  kept — 
more  than  one. 

The  Court-House  stood  in  the  centre  of 
what  is  at  present  Court  Square,  and  from  it 
the  houses  extended  mainly  in  two  lines,  one 
up  what  is  now  Dexter  Avenue,  toward  Goat 
Hill,  the  other  down  Commerce  Street  toward 
the  river.  Perhaps  a  trace  of  the  New  Eng- 
land "  Meetinof-house "  is  to  be  found  in  the 
multifarious  uses  to  which  this  building  was 
put.  Here  law  courts  met  with  suggestive  fre- 
quency during  the  week,  and  the  congregation 


386  Montgomery 

assembled  on  Sundays  when  notified  by  a 
special  messenger  that  a  preacher  was  in 
town,  while  celebrations,  oratory,  and  even 
dancing,  kept  it  lively  at  night, 

A  motley  population  rises  before  our  eyes  as 
we  run  throucrh  the  list  of  their  amusements. 
There  is  the  speculator  at  the  horse-races,  the 
frontiersman  at  the  Indian  ball  game,  the  vocif- 
ferous  patriot  at  the  regular  celebration  of  the 
Fourth  of  July  and  Washington's  Birthday, 
and  even  the  spirits  of  defeated  Indians  and 
English  seem  to  gaze  grimly  from  the  back- 
ground at  the  hearty  observance  of  Jackson 
Day.  Yet  among  all  these  the  most  significant 
fact  is  the  earnestness  and  delight  with  which 
the  drama  was  cultivated.  A  company  com- 
posed of  local  amateurs  on  December  1 7, 
1822,  presented  Shakespeare's  play,  Jtilius 
Ccssar,  in  the  upper  story  of  the  old  build- 
ing still  standing  at  the  corner  of  Commerce 
and  Tallapoosa  Streets,  and  if  we  may  believe 
the  newspaper  "  it  went  down  to  the  satis- 
faction of  a  numerous  and  splendid  audience." 
Of  the  actors,  one  afterwards  became  Gov- 
ernor of  Alabama,  another  United  States  Sen- 
ator, another  a  State  Supreme  Court  Judge, 
and  a  fourth,  Governor  of  Georgia. 


o 


88  Montgomery 


It  was  a  memorable  day  in  the  history  of 
this  httle  town  when,  on  April  3,  1825,  the 
great  Frenchman  Lafayette,  then  on  his  last 
visit  to  America,  stopped  here.  The  reception 
given  him,  though  not  without  its  amusing  in- 
cidents, portrays  vividly  the  eager  and  open- 
hearted  temper  of  the  citizens.  Escorted  by 
three  hundred  Alabamians  and  a  number  of 
Indians,  he  reached  Montgomery  on  a  beauti- 
ful spring  morning,  and  was  met  by  the  entire 
population  on  what  is  now  Capitol  Hill.  Cap- 
tain Woodward,  who  was  one  of  his  escort, 
thus  quaintly  describes  the  scene  : 

"On  Goat  Hill,  and  near  where  Captain  John  Carr 
fell  in  the  well,  stood  Governor  Pickens  and  the  largest 
crowd  I  ever  saw  in  Montgomery.  Some  hundred  yards 
east  of  the  Hill  was  a  sand  flat,  where  General  Lafayette 
and  his  attendants  quit  carriages  and  horses,  formed  a 
line  and  marched  to  the  top  of  the  hill.  As  we  started, 
the  band  struck  up  the  old  Scottish  air,  Hail  to  the  Chief. 
As  we  approached  the  Governor,  Mr.  Hill  introduced 
the  General  to  him.  The  Governor  tried  to  welcome 
him  ;  but,  like  the  best  man  the  books  give  account  of, 
when  it  was  announced  that  he  was  commander  of  the 
whole  American  forces,  he  was  scarcely  able  to  utter  a 
word.  So  it  was  with  Governor  Pickens.  As  I  have 
remarked  before,  Governor  Pickens  had  no  superior  in 
the  State,  but  on  that  occasion  he  could  not  even  make 
a  speech.     But  that  did  not  prevent  General  Lafayette 


Montgomery 


389 


from  discovering  that  he  was  a  great  man.  .  .  .  The 
people  of  Montgomery  did  their  duty.  Col.  Arthur 
Hayne,  who  was  a  distinguished  officer  in  the  army  in 
the  war  of  1813,  and  who  was  the  politest  gentleman  I 
ever  saw,  was  the  principal  manager.  If  the  Earl  of 
Chesterfield  had  happened  there,  he  would  have  felt,  as 
I  did  the  first  time  I  saw  a  carpet  on  a  floor,  and  was 
asked  to  walk  in.  I  declined,  saying,  '  I  reckon  I  have 
got  in  the  wrong  place.'  " 

He  was  hospitably  entertained  at  Colonel 
Edmonson's,  on  Commerce  Street,  where  he 
received  with  kindly  grace  the  crowds  that 
pressed  around  him.     At  night  a  grand  ball 


OLD  BUILDING   liN   WHICH    LAFAYETTE   BALL  WAS  GIVEN    IN   1825. 


390  Montgomery 

was  oriven  him  in  the  buildinof  now  standing 
on  the  corner  of  Commerce  and  Tallapoosa 
Streets  ;  and  in  the  small  hours  "a  large  con- 
course of  citizens  escorted  him  through  the 
darkness  down  to  the  landing,  and  bid  him  a 
hearty  but  mournful  adieu  amid  torrents  of 
tears." 

Frontier  life  conduces  to  early  maturity  in 
cities  as  well  as  in  men,  and  Montgomery  was 
no  exception  to  the  rule.  The  hard  knocks 
that  produce  self-reliance  were  not  slow  in 
coming.  In  spite  of  disastrous  freshets  and 
destructive  epidemics,  the  population  increased, 
and  with  its  growth  came  a  new  and  rougher 
element.  An  old  newspaper  suggests  drily  : 
"  It  requires  no  stretch  of  art  to  put  rubbish 
before  a  shop  door ;  to  take  down  a  ginger- 
bread-maker's sign  ;  to  take  the  wheek  from  a 
lady's  carriage  and  put  them  on  a  silversmith's 
shop ;  and  make  noise  enough  to  disturb  the 
slumbers  of  the  sick  by  beating  stirrups  for 
triangles,  and  blowing  conch-shells  for  French 
horns."  Drunkenness  and  gambling  increased, 
and  the  same  paper  soon  had  occasion  to  add  : 
"This  is  the  third,  if  not  the  fourth,  attempt 
at  homicide  in  this  place  within  a  few  months." 
Such  things  were   the   first   test  of   the   city's 


Montgomery  391 

capacity  for  self-government,  and  were  met  by 
primitive  but  rigorous  measures.  Indecency 
of  language  or  conduct  was  punished  by  a 
ducking  in  some  neighboring  pond,  followed 
by  a  ride  on  a  rail.  There  is  a  record  of  an 
outrageous  scoundrel  who  attempted  to  steal 
and  sell  an  Indian  family,  and  was  promptly 
whipped  through  the  streets  by  the  squaws 
while  the  citizens  lined  up  and  saw  it  well 
done.  But  the  lawlessness  increased  until 
finally  it  destroyed  the  peace  and  threatened 
the  existence  of  the  town.  Then  it  was  that 
the  law-abiding  class  rose  in  mass,  and  under  the 
leadership  of  Colonel  John  H.  Thorington  put 
down  the  gang  and  cleaned  out  their  haunts. 

If  they  had  at  times  been  too  lenient  toward 
lawlessness,  and  at  others  too  impatient  to 
wait  for  legal  formalities,  a  ready  explanation 
may  be  found  in  their  absorption  in  business 
cares  and  enterprises.  A  new  country  of  un- 
known resources  had  to  be  developed.  Other 
things  must  wait.  Governor  Gilmer,  of 
Georgia,  who  visited  Montgomery  in  1833,  was 
deeply — perhaps  too  deeply — impressed  with 
this  side  of  their  life.      He  says: 

"  I  found  the  fertile  lands  of  Montgomery  settled  up 
with  active,  intelligent,  wealthy  citizens,  who  had  been 


39-  Montgomery 

drawn  to  it  from  tlie  old  States  by  the  great  advantages 
which  it  afforded  to  those  who  desired  to  increase  their 
riches.  The  rapid  accumulation  of  wealth  whetted  the 
appetite  for  getting  money,  until  the  people  could  not  be 
satisfied  with  any  quantity  acquired.  It  was  a  subject  of 
wondering  cogitation  to  me,  who  had  for  many  years 
been  constantly  taken  up  with  the  affairs  of  the  govern- 
ment, and  the  strife  of  party  politics,  to  listen  to  my 
Montgomery  friends  talking  without  ceasing  of  cotton, 
negroes,  land  and  money." 

The  hardest  problem  that  the  business  man 
of  those  earl)'  times  had  to  face  was  the  ques- 
tion of  transportation.  Dry  goods,  groceries 
and  manufactured  articles  had  at  first  been 
brought  from  Savannah  and  Charleston  by 
wagon  or  horseback.  But  the  way  was  long, 
the  roads  wretched, — especially  through  the 
Creek  territory, — and  the  Indians  demanded 
exorbitant  tolls  at  the  bridges  ;  so  the  method 
was  anything  but  satisfactory,  and  other  plans 
were  soon  tried.  Barcfes  and  flatboats  were 
laboriously  poled  up  from  Mobile.  They  bore 
the  promising  names,  Alabama  Szvan,  Lady  of 
the  Lake,  Cotton  Patch  and  Ready  Money,  but 
consumed  from  fifty  to  seventy  days  on  the 
trip.  The  local  paper  records  the  arrival  of  an 
"  amphibious  animal  in  the  shape  of  a  boat  from 
East  Tennessee."      It  came  down  the  Tennes- 


Montgomery  393 

see,  was  transported  across  thirty  miles  of  land 
to  the  Coosa,  and  by  that  river  reached  its 
destination.  After  a  journey  of  a  thousand 
miles,  it  finally  arrived  with  an  amusing  assort- 
ment of  liour,  whiskey,  apple  brandy,  cider, 
dried  fruit,  feathers  and  a  five-wheel  carriage, 
— some  of  which  must  have  been  taken  on 
board  near  the  end  of  the  trip. 

Under  such  circumstances,  the  arrival  of  the 
first  steamboat,  the  Harriet,  on  October  22, 
182 1,  marked  an  epoch.  Nor  did  the  town 
fail  to  appreciate  its  importance.  The  entire 
population  turned  out  to  bid  it  welcome.  The 
next  day  it  carried  an  excursion  up  the  river  at 
the  lively  rate  of  six  miles  an  hour.  Steam 
was  too  precious  to  be  wasted  in  whistling,  so 
a  gun  was  fired  to  signal  its  approach. 

While  the  Sioans  and  the  Harriets  were 
struggling  for  supremacy,  a  third  rival  destined 
to  supplant  them  both  made  its  modest  appear- 
ance. The  Montgomery  Railroad,  delayed  by 
the  panic  of  ' 2)1^  opened  the  first  twelve  miles  of 
its  line  for  business  in  1840.  It  made  no  great 
display,  and  when  the  engine  was  out  of  fix 
horses  were  substituted  without  hesitation  or 
serious  loss  of  time.  But  it  was  the  beginning 
of  a  system  that  soon  put  the  city  in  close 


394  Montgomery 

communication  with  the  older  Eastern  States  ; 
and  when  President  Davis  came  in  1861  over 
the  same  road,  he  traveled  in  a  private  car 
made  in  its  own  shops  at  Montgomery. 

Business  was  the  dominant  interest  during 
the  first  two  decades  of  the  city's  existence, 
and  may  have  seemed  to  visitors  like  Governor 
Gilmer  to  exclude  all  other  thoughts  ;  yet  be- 
neath the  surface  there  smouldered  the  South- 
ern devotion  to  politics.  The  town  was 
scarcely  two  years  old  when  the  Missouri 
question  gave  rise  to  an  ardent  discussion 
of  State  rights,  which  found  frequent  occasion 
for  renewal  in  subsequent  years ;  and  at  the 
public  dinner  prepared  in  celebration  of  the 
Fourth  of  July,  1826,  there  were  two  toasts 
whose  sentiment  seems  strangely  significant  in 
the  light  of  after  events.     They  were  : 

"The  Union  of  the  States — The  golden  chain  of  our 
liberties  ;  dissolved  into  its  minute  links,  the  fabric  falls 
into  ruin." 

"  States  Rights — The  ark  of  our  safety  ;  every  attempt 
to  violate  them  should  be  regarded  as  highly  obnoxious 
to  the  holy  spirit  of  the  Constitution." 

Nor  was  their  zest  for  politics  a  mere  fond- 
ness for  empty  debate  or  idle  personalities. 
It  was  an  innate  love  for  public  affairs,  a  desire 


Montgomery  395 

to  discuss  and  to  take  part  in  whatever  touched 
the  pubHc  welfare.  Now  it  was  a  question  of 
State  versus  national  power  in  the  Creek  re- 
gion, and  they  with  other  Alabamians  took 
such  a  lively  hand  in  it  that  Francis  S.  Key, 
the  author  of  The  Star  Spangled  Banner,  had 
to  be  sent  down  as  special  commissioner  to 
smooth  matters  over.  A  year  later  it  was 
Texas  struggling  against  the  absolutism  of 
Santa  Anna,  and  so  keen  was  the  interest  felt 
at  Montgomery  that  a  mass-meeting  was  held 
in  the  theatre,  funds  were  contributed,  and  a 
company  of  forty  men  under  Captain  Ticknor 
was  raised  in  the  immediate  neighborhood. 
In  addition  to  the  princely  pay  of  $8  a 
month,  there  was  the  uncertain  promise  of  a 
square  mile  of  land  out  there.  They  got  just 
six  feet  of  it ;  for  they  were  massacred  after 
surrender  at  Goliad.  In  1840,  their  attention 
was  engrossed  by  the  picturesque  "  Tippecanoe 
and  Tyler  too  "  campaign.  Log  cabins,  coon- 
skins,  and  hard  cider  were  seen  on  every  hand, 
and  the  "  Great  ball,"  which  the  Whig  enthu- 
siasts rolled  through  so  many  cities  as  a  spec- 
tacular admonition  to  "  keep  the  ball  rolling," 
passed  through  the  streets  inscribed  with  de- 
nunciations of  the  Nullifiers. 


396 


Montgomery 


But,  after  all,  the  event  which  made  politics 
a  prominent  feature  of  life  at  Montgomery 
was  the  removal  thither  of  the  State  capital. 
Tuscaloosa,  its  location  at  that  time,  not  being 


ALABAMA  STATE   C.-.f  .TuL  vVriERE   PRESIDENT  DAVIS  WAS  INAUGURATED. 

accessible  enough,  a  constitutional  amend- 
ment was  adopted  providing  for  its  removal, 
and  on  January  28,  1846,  the  Legislature,  after 
a  hot  contest,  selected  Montgomery  as  the 
site.  Two  days  later,  the  Selma  stage  brought 
the  news  to  the  city.      Next  day  there  was  a 


Montgomery  397 

grand  procession,  and  at  night  there  were  bon- 
fires and  a  jolhfication  that  would  have  glad- 
dened the  soul  of  old  Andrew  Dexter.  His  de- 
sire was  to  be  fulfilled,  and  the  capitol  was  to 
stand  on  the  very  lot  he  had  reserved  for  it  on 
Goat  Hill  nearly  thirty  years  before.  The 
new  building,  erected  by  the  city,  was  ready  in 
in  the  fall  of  '47  ;  the  archives  in  one  hundred 
and  thirteen  boxes  were  laboriously  brought 
from  Tuscaloosa  in  thirteen  wagons,  at  a  cost 
of  $1325  —  figures  as  significant  of  poor  trans- 
portation facilities  as  they  are  full  of  the  magical 
number  thirteen  —  and  all  was  ready  for  the 
Legislature,  which  met  in  December.  The 
effect  on  the  city  is  vividly  described  in 
Garrett's  Piiblic  Men  : 

"  The  novelty  of  the  occasion,  together  with  the  greater 
facilities  to  reach  the  seat  of  government,  brought  to- 
gether an  immense  concourse  of  people.  .  .  .  The 
hotels  were  crowded  to  inconvenience,  private  boarding- 
houses  were  increased  and  thronged,  and  every  avenue 
to  the  capitol  presented  at  all  hours  of  the  day  a  stirring 
multitude.  Candidates  for  the  various  ofhces  were  as 
thick  as  blackbirds  in  a  fresh  plowed  field  in  spring." 

The  new  building  was  burned  two  years 
later,  but  was  immediately  rebuilt  on  substan- 
tially the  same  plan. 


398  Montgomery 

Immediately  on  becoming  the  seat  of  gov- 
ernment, Montgomery  of  course  became  the 
most  important  place  politically  in  the  State, 
and  during  the  stirring  years  before  the  Civil 
War  was  the  scene  of  many  events  which  con- 
nected its  history  more  and  more  closely  with 
that  of  the  country  at  large,  and  paved  the 
way  for  the  conspicuous  part  it  was  to  play  in 
•61. 

The  war  with  Mexico,  like  the  stru^-crle  of 
Texas,  aroused  here  more  than  a  passing  in- 
terest. In  spite  of  the  sad  fate  of  Captain 
Ticknor's  men,  its  citizens  enlisted  again  and 
went  to  the  front  under  Captain  Rush  Elmore 
and  Colonel  J.  J.  Seibels  ;  and  during  the  first 
few  weeks  of  its  session  in  the  new  capitol  the 
Legislature  suspended  routine  work  more  than 
once  to  join  in  the  enthusiastic  receptions  ac- 
corded such  returning  heroes  as  Generals 
Quitman  and  Shields. 

From  that  time  until  the  Confederacy  was 
born  in  its  midst,  the  little  city,  like  a  moun- 
tain lake,  bore  on  its  rulTled  surface  traces  of 
every  storm  that  passed  over  the  land.  No 
other  city  reflected  more  vividly  the  heated 
debates  in  Congress  over  the  fatal  territorial 
problems  thrust  on  us  by  the  Mexican  War. 


Montgomery  399 

Nowhere  else  was  the  attitude  of  the  South 
on  these  burning  questions  stated  so  promptly 
and  so  emphatically  as  in  the  once  famous 
Alabama  Platform,  first  presented  by  Mr. 
Yancey,  February  14,  1848,  to  a  great  political 
convention  assembled  in  the  capitol.  The 
scene  was  historic,  and  is  thus  described  by 
his  biographer,  Mr.  DuBose  : 

"  At  this  stage  in  the  proceedings  Mr.  Yancey  rose. 
The  galleries  were  crowded  with  ladies  and  their  escorts  ; 
the  floor,  lobbies,  and  rotunda  were  packed  with  men. 
He  drew  from  his  pocket  his  own  resolutions  and  read 
them.  .  .  .  He  spoke  at  length.  ...  A  vote 
was  taken,  and  Yancey's  resolutions  were  adopted,  with- 
out even  one  opposing  voice,  amidst  the  most  enthusiastic 
cheering  on  the  floor  and  in  the  lobbies,  the  ladies  in 
the  galleries  waving  their  handkerchiefs  in  the  contagion 
of  joy." 

It  was  a  characteristic  example  of  his  keen 
political  foresight  and  also  of  the  wonderfully 
persuasive  eloquence  that  set  his  hearers  on 
fire.  No  orator  ever  combined  more  perfectly 
closeness  of  reasonings  with  the  fire  of  earnest- 
ness  and  an  irresistible  personal  magnetism. 
The  capitol,  old  Estelle  Hall,  every  public 
place  in  the  city,  rang  with  the  mellow  tones 
of  his  voice  ;  his  debates  with  Hilliard  were 
attended    by    throngs    never   equaled   in   the 


4o^  Montgomery- 

State  before  or  since  ;  and  the  mention  of  his 
name  at  this  day  arouses  in  the  memory  of  old 
residents  a  sense  of  ecstasy  produced  by  no 
other.  No  better  idea  of  his  manner  can  be 
given  than  by  quoting  once  more  from  his 
biography,  this  time  from  a  letter  of  General 
H.  D.  Clayton,  describing  a  subsequent  im- 
promptu debate  with  his  great  friend  and 
opponent,    Hilliard  : 

"  Mr,  Hilliard,  being  loudly  called,  took  his  stand, 
and  made  the  graceful  speech  he  always  does.  .  . 
Then  broke  forth  the  deafening,  enthusiastic  cry,  '  Yan- 
cey, Yancey.'  He  came  like  a  man  conscious  of  right 
should  always  come.  .  .  .  As  with  modesty  becom- 
ing a  maiden  of  sixteen,  he  requested  to  be  permitted  to 
occupy  the  stand,  '  To  the  stand,'  shouted  an  hundred 
voices.  .  .  .  Bowing  low  he  began  —  Here  I  must 
pause.  I  should  despise  my  own  presumption  should  I 
undertake  further  description  of  what  followed.  First 
went  the  Confederation  newspaper,  once  in  existence, 
now  a  dream,  a  shadow  of  things  that  were,  gone  glim- 
mering like  a  schoolboy's  tale.  At  every  blow  some  foe 
fell,  broken  in  every  bone.  For  just  two  hours  this  work 
of  destruction  proceeded  amidst  deafening  shouts  from 
the  throats  of  what  is  admitted  on  all  sides  to  have  been 
at  least  two-thirds  of  the  crowded  house,  called  to  put 
Yancey  down." 

In  the  debates  and  speeches  of  those  days 
the  men  and  the  measures  of  the  last  decade 


FIRST  PAGE  OF  THE   PERMANENT  CONSTITUTION   OF  THE  CONFEDERATE 
STATES  AS  REFORTtD  BY  THE  COMMITTEE. 

THIS   IS    IN    THE    HANDWRITING    OF    GEN.    THOS.    R.    R.     COBB,    WHO    WAS    A    MEMBER   OF    THE 
COMMITTEE.       TAKEN    FROM    THE    O^IIGINAL,    WHICH    IS    IN    THt!    POSSESSION 
401  OF    MR.     A.     L.    HULL,    ATHENS,    GA, 


402  Montgomery 

before  the  war  are  preserved  with  a  vividness 
that  seems  almost  magical.  Estelle  Hall 
echoes  with  fierce  discussions  of  the  great 
Compromise  of  1850.  What  a  vista  of  history 
opens  before  the  mind  as  the  streets  resound 
to  the  tramp  of  Colonel  Buford's  men  on  their 
vain  errand  to  Kansas  !  And  what  a  sobering 
sense  of  reality  it  brings  to  read  his  card  in  the 
papers  !  "  I  wish  to  raise  three  hundred  in- 
dustrious, sober,  discreet,  reliable  men,  capable 
of  bearing  arms  ;  not  prone  to  use  them  wick- 
edly or  unnecessarily,  but  willing  to  protect 
their  section  in  every  real  emergency." 

But  interesting-  as  these  incidents  are  to  the 
student,  they  were  historically  only  preliminary 
to  the  dramatic  events  connected  with  the  se- 
cession of  the  State  and  the  organization  of 
the  Confederate  Government.  The  course  of 
South  Carolina  and  the  propositions  for  com- 
promise had  been  watched  with  the  greatest 
eagerness,  and  when  the  Alabama  Convention 
assembled  in  the  capitol  on  January  7,  1861, 
the  excitement  was  intense.  Hotels  were 
crowded,  lobbies  thronged,  the  factions  were 
busy  caucusing,  and  so  close  did  the  estimate 
of  votes  run  that  a  delegate  who  was  opposed 
to  secession  exclaimed  :  "  Mr.  Yancey  can  save 


T^'mmmmmimmiffim 


in;  I  H\si  I  M  !!   \ 


ru  \  ii;i)i:  i;  \  i  i.  - ;  \  i 


_L. 


THE  PERMANENT  CONSTITUTION  OF  THE  CONFEDERATE  STATES. 


AS    REPORTED    BY    COMMITTEE    AMD    AMENDED    BY    CONGRESS,    IS    IN    THE    POSSESSION    OF   THE 
DAUGHTER    OF    ALEX.    B.    CLITHERALL,    MRS.    A.     C.    BIRCH,    MONTGOMERY,   ALA. 

403 


404  Montgomery 

the  Union  by  the  wave  of  his  hand."  When 
the  convention  finally,  on  January  iith,  came 
to  a  vote,  the  scene  was  a  solemn  and  impres- 
sive one.  Mr.  Yancey,  as  chairman  of  the 
committee  to  draw  up  the  ordinance  of  seces- 
sion, rose  to  close  the  debate.  The  majorit)- 
of  the  committee,  he  said,  preferred  that  the 
ordinance  should  state  simply  that  the  State 
resumed  its  original  sovereignty  by  its  own  act, 
without  adding  anything  that  might  seem  an 
apology  ;  but  for  harmony  they  had  yielded  to 
the  desire  of  the  minority  and  agreed  to  a  pre- 
amble and  certain  resolutions.  The  question 
was  put  and  the  vote  stood  6i  to  39.  Ala- 
bama had  declared  her  independence. 

The  scenes  that  followed  are  best  described 
in  the  next  day's  newspaper  : 

"the    RUBICON    IS    CROSSED. 

"Yesterday  will  form  a  memorable  epoch  in  the  his- 
tory of  Alabama.  On  that  day  our  gallant  little  State 
resumed  her  sovereignty,  and  became  free  and  indepen- 
dent. So  soon  as  it  was  announced  that  the  ordinance 
of  secession  had  passed,  the  rejoicing  commenced  and 
the  people  seemed  wild  with  excitement.  At  the  mo- 
ment the  beautiful  flag  presented  by  the  ladies  to  the 
convention  was  run  up  on  the  capitol,  .  .  .  the  can- 
non reverberated  through   the   city,  the   various   church 


Montgomery  405 

bells  commenced  ringing,  and  shout  after  shout  might 
have  been  heard  along  the  principal  streets." 

At  night  the  capitol  and  other  buildings  were 
"  most  beautifully  illumined,"  and  fireworks 
and  speeches  gave  vent  to  feelings  long  pent  up. 

But  in  the  excited  crowd  were  sad  hearts 
as  well  as  gay.  Many  who  heartily  believed 
in  the  right  of  secession  deemed  it  inexpedient 
at  the  time.  A  few  caught  some  vision  of  the 
dreadful  days  to  come  ;  and  one  house  at  least 
amidst  the  general  rejoicing  was  draped  in 
mourninof. 

All  hesitation  was,  however,  soon  swept 
away  by  the  contagious  excitement  of  the 
speedy  assembling  of  the  Confederate  Con- 
gress. South  Carolina  had  suggested  Mont- 
gomery as  the  place  of  meeting,  partly  because 
of  its  central  location,  partly  because  of  the 
conspicuous  part  it  had  already  played.  The 
idea  met  with  favor,  and  the  Alabama  conven- 
tion gave  the  proper  formal  invitation. 

The  little  city,  so  soon  to  become  the  storm 
centre  of  the  South,  was  at  that  time  a  town  of 
some  twelve  thousand  inhabitants,  but  made 
the  proud  boast  of  being  the  richest  for  its  size 
in  the  country.  A  newspaper  writer  of  the 
day  thus  describes  it : 


4o6 


Montgomery 


"  The  principal  streets  are  wide  and  well  improved,  the 
stores  and  other  houses  for  the  transaction  of  business 
are  large,  commodious  and  handsome.  ...  In  re- 
gard to  the  private  residences  of  the  well-to-do  portion 
of  the  population,  too  much  cannot  be  said  in  their 
praise.  A  large  number  of  them  present  much  architec- 
tural skill  and  beauty,  surrounded  by  capacious  grounds. 


THE   POLLARD  RESIDENCE,  BUILT  BEFORE  THE  WAR. 

handsomely  ornamented  with  the  rarest  shrubbery  known 
to  the  South." 

Another     visitor     was     impressed     with     the 

numerous 

"  residences  of  gentlemen  who  own  plantations  in  the 
hotter  and  less  healthful  parts  of  the  State.  Many  of 
these  have  been  educated  in  the  older  States,  and  with 
minds  enlarged  and  liberalized  by  travel,  they  form,  with 
their  families,  a  cultivated  and  attractive  society." 


Montgomery  407 

Here  assembled,  on  February  4,   1861,  the 


MONUMENT  TO  CONFEDERATE  SOLDIERS    ERECTED  ON  THE  CAPITOL 
GROUNDS  BY  THE  LADIES'   MEMORIAL  ASSOCIATION. 

delegates  from  the  Southern   States  that  had 
seceded,  and,  amidst  scenes  still  familiar  to  all 


4o8 


Monte^omery 


Americans,  they  proceeded  to  organize  the  Con- 
federate Government.  The  excitement  cuhiii- 
nated  with    the    arrival    and    inauofuration    of 

Mr.  Davis.  An 
enormous  crowd 
escorted  h  i  m 
from  the  depot 
to  the  Exchange 
Hotel,  where  he 
was  welcomed  by 
Mr.  Yancey  in  an 
apt  little  speech 
containing  the 
famous  words 
"  The  man  and 
the  hour  have 
met,"  The  cer- 
emony of  inaugu- 
ration took  place 
February  i8th  in 
front  of  the  cap- 
itol.  The  enthusiasm  was  unbounded.  One 
who  was  present  declared  years  afterwards  : 
"  I  never  before  or  since  that  hour  so  exper- 
ienced the  ecstasy  of  patriotism."  At  lo 
o'clock  in  the  morning  Mr.  Davis  left  the 
Exchange  in  a  carriage  drawn   by   six  white 


JEFFERSON    DAVIS. 


Montgomery  409 

horses.      A  vast  throng  escorted  him  up  Dex- 
ter Avenue  to  the  capitol. 

"  After  he  took  his  seat  on  the  platform  in  front  of  the 
capitol,"  wrote  an  eye-witness,  "  and  a  short  prayer  had 
been  offered,  he  read  a  very  neat  little  speech,  not  mak- 
ing many  promises,  but  hoping  by  God's  help  to  be  able 
to  fulfill  all  expectations.  He  took  the  oath  amidst  the 
deepest  silence  ;  and  when  he  raised  his  hand  and  his 
eyes  to  heaven,  and  said  '  so  help  me  God,'  I  think  I 
never  saw  any  scene  so  solemn  and  impressive." 

Years  have  gone  by  since  those  brave  days. 
The  scenes  that  so  stirred  not  only  Mont- 
gomery but  the  entire  land  have  passed  into 
the  pages  of  history.  The  eager  throng  that 
crowded  Capitol  Hill,  and  hung  breathlessly 
on  every  word  of  the  brief  inaugural  address  ; 
the  riuCTinor  cheers  and  the  roar  of  cannon  that 
welcomed  the  news  of  VirQ^inia's  secession  ;  the 
groups  of  leaders  planning  earnestly  laws  and 
constitutions  and  deep  schemes  of  public 
policy  ;  the  soldiers  in  gray  marching  by  with 
high  hopes  and  light  step  ;  the  sad  day  when  the 
Confederate  Government  packed  its  archives 
and  took  its  departure  for  Richmond  —  these 
memories  and  a  thousand  others  that  cluster 
about  them  will  always  be  kept  alive  by  the 
tender  sentiment  that  clings  to  the  Lost  Cause. 


4IO 


Montgomery 


But  Montgomery,  true  to  the  spirit  of  its 
history,  does  not  look  backward.  Business 
enterprise  has  adapted  itself  to  new  surround- 
ings. It  is  to-day  a  city  of  the  New  South. 
On  the  site  of  the  old  Indian  town,  Ecunchatty, 
stands  a  great  modern  factory.  The  change 
is  typical.  Far  over  the  wide  stretches  of 
field  and  river  float  the  long  streamers  of 
smoke,  the  banners  of  the  modern  army  of  in- 
dustry, in  striking  but  friendly  contrast  to  the 
white  dome  on  Capitol  Hill,  the  centre  of 
Montgomery's   past  and  present  political  life. 


NEW  ORLEANS 
"THE  CRESCENT  CITY" 


By  grace  king 

SAIL  across  the  blue  waters  of  the  Gulf  and 
make  your  way  up  the  mighty  current  of 
the  Mississippi,  like  the  leisurely  traveler  of 
yore,  if  you  wish  to  approach  New  Orleans 
in  the  proper  way  and  spirit ;  unless — which 
also  furnishes  a  proper  way  and  spirit — you 
wind  your  way  down  the  mighty  current, 
from  some  far  northern  starting-point.  And 
for  guidance  provide  not  yourself  with  an  up- 
to-date  map  of  the  United  States,  crisscrossed 
with  railroads,  and  speckled  with  illegibly 
printed  names  of  swarming  towns.  The  pilot 
chart  of  the  steamboat  is  the  true  informant 
here  if  you  are  not  the  fortunate  possessor  or 
borrower  of  some  old  print  of  the  last  century, 
one  of  those  happy  combinations  of  fact  and 
imagination  issued  by  the  ancient  cartographer 

411 


412  New  Orleans 

in  the  effort  to  compromise  old  theories  with 
new  discoveries  ;  charts  tracked  by  the  foot 
of  the  pioneer,  not  by  the  wheel  of  the  loco- 
motive, graded  by  the  paddle  of  the  canoe, 
not  by  that  of  the  steamer  ;  charts  that  bear 
record  to  the  history  as  well  as  geography  of  a 
country  and  chronicle  its  ever-clearer  and  ever- 
increasing  vastness  and  importance.  Upon  such 
a  niap  was  the  name  New^  Orleans  first  written 
down.  Naught  to  the  north  but  Canada  and 
the  Great  Lakes  ;  to  the  east,  the  Atlantic  sea- 
board with  its  mere  fringe  of  English  settle- 
ments fenced  in  by  impassable  mountains  ;  to 
the  west,  mountains  again,  and  illimitable 
prairies,  covered  over  by  bounding  buffalo. 
South,  lay  the  Gulf  of  Mexico  with  Florida 
on  the  one  side,  Mexico  on  the  other.  From 
one  of  the  Great  Lakes  at  the  north.  Lake 
Michigan,  to  the  Gulf  of  Mexico  at  the  south, 
comes  through  the  blank  expanse  of  paper,  the 
huge,  black  serpent  line  of  the  Mississippi 
twisting  and  curving  through,  a  triumph  of  the 
artist,  its  great  valley,  pictured  from  mountain 
range  to  mountain  range,  teeming  with  Indian 
villao-es,  fields  of  wavinof  corn,  droves  of  innu- 
merable  deer,  and  illimitable  forests.  At  the 
head   of    navigation   lay  the    little    village    of 


New  Orleans 


413 


Chicagou,  about  midway  the  little  stronghold 
of  St.  Louis,  at  the  terminus  New  Orleans  ; 
the  three  names  linking  together  across  the 
distance  two  hundred  years  ago  even  as 
to-day. 


TOMB  OF    AVAR,  CITY  PARK. 


De  Soto  first  conceived  the  project  of  found- 
ing a  settlement  upon  the  Mississippi  River, 
his  Rio  Grande.  As  he  lay  stricken  with  fever 
upon  its  banks  within  sight  of  its  majestic  cur- 
rents, his  mind  dwelt  upon  the  glory  of  annex- 
ing the  great  stream  and  its  territory  to  Spain, 
the  souls  of  its  peoples  to  the  Catholic  Church. 
From  his  couch,  he  urged  forward  the  building 
of  the  ships   to   be   sent   to    Havana   for  the 


414  New  Orleans 

necessary  supplies  ;  with  dying  ears  he  listened 
to  the  sound  of  the  busy  axes  and  hammers, 
and  with  dying  voice  he  charged  upon  his  men 
the  accomplishment  of  what  would  turn  all 
the  suffering  and  loss  of  their  expedition  into 
brilliant  success  and  ensure  his  fame  and  theirs 
to  all  time. 

But  the  Spaniards,  sinking  the  body  of  their 
commander  beneath  the  turbid  waters  of  the 
Mississippi,  sank  there  too  his  plans  and  am- 
bitions, and,  turning  their  backs  upon  the  river, 
recked  not  that  Spain  should  gain  or  lose  it. 

Over  the  burial  spot  of  the  Spanish  explorer 
floated,  a  century  and  a  half  later,  the  boats  of 
La  Salle,  the  Canadian  explorer.  As  he  pad- 
dled his  way  down  the  gigantic  stream,  the 
like  of  which  he  had  never  dreamed  existed  in 
the  world,  he  was,  in  thought,  making  that 
map  of  the  country  described  above.  And 
by  the  time  his  boats  came  into  view  of  the 
Gulf,  his  scheme  for  affixing  the  great  river 
and  valley  to  France  lay  as  clear  in  his  mind 
as  the  blue  expanse  before  his  eyes.  He 
would  first  build  strongholds,  settle  colonies, 
and  mass  friendly  Indians  at  the  mouth  of  each 
tributary.  French  traders,  coiirciirs  cic  boi's, 
and  missionaries,  with  a  free  and  secure  route 


New  Orleans 


415 


before  them,  would  then  ply  their  canoes  back- 
wards and  forwards  between  Lake  Michigan 
and  the  Gulf,  where  French  vessels  would  be 
lying  at  anchor  in  the  sheltered  harbor  of  the 
commodious  city  he  purposed  to  build.  The 
French  flag  once  securely  established  on 
the  Gulf  coast  of  the  continent  meant  nothing 


THE  CUSTOM-HOUSE,   NEW  ORLEANS. 

less  than  the  gradual  elbowing  of  the  English 
out  of  the  country  on  the  Atlantic  side,  and  the 
capture  of  the  Mexican  gold  mines  from  Spain 
whenever  opportunity  offered. 

Like  De  Soto,  La  Salle  proved  only  a  fore- 
runner in  history.       The  brilliant  scheme  he 


4i6  New  Orleans 

conceived  and  failed  to  execute  was  carried  to 
success  ten  years  after  his  death  by  Iberville. 
He  discovered  the  river  from  the  Gulf,  and,  en- 
tering it,  explored  its  course  until  he  identified 
it  as  the  river  discovered  from  the  Lakes  by 
La  Salle.  And  he  it  was  who  selected  the  site 
for  the  future  city  upon  the  Mississippi,  the 
possession  of  which  meant,  to  any  power  that 
held  it,  domination  of  the  Gulf  of  Mexico  and  of 
the  great  waterway,  the  life  artery  of  the  Amer- 
ican continent.  When  Iberville  selected  that 
site  upon  the  narrow  neck  of  land  lying  be- 
tween the  river  and  an  equally  navigable  chain 
of  lakes,  he  wrote  the  history  of  his  city  in 
advance. 

The  first  year  of  the  eighteenth  century  saw 
France  indeed  mistress  of  the  Mississippi  and 
of  the  Gulf  of  Mexico,  but  Iberville,  like  De 
Soto  and  La  Salle,  was  cut  off  in  the  prime  of 
life  and  activity,  and  his  work  was  left  to  an- 
other for  accomplishment  —  to  Bienville,  his 
young  brother. 

One  cannot  think  of  New  Orleans  without 
Bienville,  nor  of  Bienville  without  New  Or- 
leans. From  the  time  he  came  into  the  coun- 
try, a  mere  stripling,  midshipman  to  Iberville, 
until   he   left   it,  a  middle-aged   man,  the   city 


New  Orleans  41  7 

upon  the  Mississippi  was  the  star  by  which  he 
guided  all  his  hopes  and  ambitions,  all  his  co- 
lonial ventures.  For  eighteen  years,  during 
which  the  seat  of  government  was  shifted  from 
Biloxi  to  Mobile  and  from  Mobile  back  again 
to  Biloxi,  throuofh  changres  of  kine  and  min- 
istry,  and  through  all  the  personal  political  vi- 
cissitudes of  an  official  dependant  of  those 
troublous  times,  he  never  ceased  to  urge  upon 
the  home  authorities  the  founding  of  the  city, 
all  the  while  setting  aside  with  unwearied  pa- 
tience the  baffling  objections  against  it  in  his 
own  council-boards. 

His  opportunity  came  at  last,  in  171S,  when 
Louisiana  was  made  over  by  contract  to  John 
Law  and  the  Company  of  the  West ;  then,  as 
Governor,  lie  had  full  authority  to  act  with  men 
•and  money  at  his  disposal.  He  himself  brought 
his  axemen  to  the  spot,  saw  the  land  cleared 
and  laid  off  in  lots,  according  to  the  map  pre- 
pared by  the  royal  engineers.  A  handsome 
little  city  it  was  to  be  according  to  this  map  ; 
with  fair,  square  sides,  straight  streets  ;  with  a 
place  d' amies,  parish  church,  cemetery,  bar- 
racks ;  all  complete,  even  to  the  naming  of 
the  streets  —  Chartres,  Conde,  Royal,  Bour- 
bon,   Dauphine,    Burgundy,  Conti,   St.    Louis, 


41^^  New  Orleans 

Toulouse,  St.  Peter,  Orleans,  St.  Anne.  No 
nicknames  were  to  be  allowed  here  to  chance 
and  illiteracy,  no  plebeian  "  Broads,"  "  Mains," 
"Highs" — a  right  royal  little  city  it  was  de- 
signed to  be  from  the  first,  and  one  worthy  its 
princely  godfather,  Law's  patron,  the  Duke  of 
Orleans. 

Bienville  himself  piloted  the  first  royal 
vessel  of  provisions  and  immigrants  through 
the  mouth  of  the  river,  and  made  the  first 
landing  at  the  levee  bank,  crowded  to-day 
with  commerce  and  shipping.  Finally,  in  1723, 
Bienville  removed  thither  all  the  government 
offices  and  stores,  and  made  New  Orleans  the 
capital  of  the  colony.  In  a  year,  the  city 
was  in  full  tide  of  progress,  and  attaining 
its  majority  as  a  city  among  the  oldest  cities  of 
the  continent. 

History  and  romance  carry  on  the  chronicle 
of  its  life,  for  it  is  a  place  whose  history  has  be- 
come romance,  romance  history,  in  our  literature. 
The  neat  little  square  checker-board  prepared 
by  Bienville's  engineers,  has  grown  out  of  all 
regularity  of  proportion  ;  unwieldy  and  awk- 
ward enough  it  is  now  upon  paper,  with  its 
streets  that  vainly  strive  to  run  straight,  as 
*they  follow  the  bend  of  the  river,  or  "  Crescent  " 


420  New  Orleans 

as  it  is  called.  But  the  first  map  still  repre- 
sents the  centre,  the  heart  of  the  city,  the 
source  of  its  tradition  and  sentiment.  And 
to  the  children  of  the  city  —  or,  we  should  say, 
the  descendants  of  the  children  of  the  first- 
born of  the  cit)-,  there  has  been  no  change  in 
this  "mother"  spot,  save  that  of  harmoni- 
ous growth  and  age  ;  —  at  least  so  they  think  in 
tender  reverence  as  they  saunter  through 
the  old  thoroughfares  with  the  high-sounding 
names. 

The  place  d' amies  has  become  Jackson 
Square  ;  the  public  market,  the  French  market ; 
the  parish  church,  the  Cathedral  ;  the  Ursu- 
lines  Convent,  the  Archbishopric  ;  the  cem- 
etery is  now  the  old  St.  Louis  —  beyond 
Rampart  Street,  instead  of  outside  the  Ram- 
parts, as  it  used  to  be  called.  The  vieu 
carve  —  as  the  original  city  is  affectionately 
called  —  has  suffered  its  share  of  the  vicis- 
situdes of  cities.  More  than  once,  tornadoes 
and  fires  have  swept  whole  quarters  of  it  bare 
of  dwellings.  Epidemics  of  yellow  fever  — 
then  as  now  said  to  be  brought  in  from  Havana 
— decimated  the  inhabitants  at  recurrent  inter- 
vals; while  the  river  ever  and  anon  rose  up  and 
overflowed  its  banks,  producing  a  steady  crop  of 


New  Orleans 


421 


domestic  fevers.  But  the  gay-hearted  inhab- 
itants —  then,  even  as  now  —  seemed  to  draw 
from  their  misfortunes  only  zest  for  greater 
energy  of  work  and  greater  pleasure  in  life. 


THE  URSULINES  CONVENT. 


Every  ship  that  arrived  brought  accessions 
to  the  population  —  accessions,  not  immigrants, 
and  therefore  reckoned  by  quality,  not  quan- 
tity. Gay  sprigs  of  the  nobility  were  sent  out 
to  "  la  Nouvelle  Orleans"  to  mend  their  morals  ; 
thrifty  ones,  to  mend  their  fortunes  ;  ambitious 
sons  of  the  bourgeoisie  came  seeking  opportu- 
nity for  acquiring  landed  estate  ;  old  officers  re- 
mained when  their  terms  of  service  expired; 


422  New  Orleans 

new  officers  willingly  grew  into  old  ones  in  a 
place  so  near  akin  in  society  and  elegance  to 
Paris.  For  Paris  was  the  arbiter  and  model 
of  New  Orleans,  and  never  had  the  great  city 
by  the  Seine  an  apter  pupil  than  the  little  cit\- 
by  the  Mississippi. 

Social  elegance  and  pleasure  reached  its 
standard  height  under  the  administration  of 
the  Marquis  de  Vaudreuil — "  le  grand  Mar- 
quis," as  he  was  called.  His  entertainments, 
banquets,  balls,  theatrical  performances,  his 
manners,  dress,  conversation,  his  etiquette, 
civil  and  military,  furnished  the  code  which, 
in  a  way,  still  governs  social  practice  in  the 
city. 

When,  in  1763,  France,  by  the  Treaty  of 
Paris,  signed  away  all  her  possessions  east  of 
the  Mississippi  to  England,  she  yet  retained  her 
grasp  on  the  jugular  vein  of  the  North  Anier- 
ican  continent  by  reserving  the  Island  of  Or- 
leans, as  it  was  denominated — that  is,  the  mouth 
of  the  Mississippi.  And  now  the  city,  by  right 
and  title  the  sole  French  metropolis  of  North 
America,  made  so  rapid  and  so  great  a  stride 
forward  in  wealth,  population,  and  commercial 
activity,  that  even  its  easy-going,  pleasure- 
loving  citizens  beofan  to  feel  the  exhilaratin<j- 


New  Orleans 


423 


reality  of  the  possibilities  of  their  geographical 
and  political  situation  in  the  country  ;  of  their 
importance,  not  alone  to  France,  but  to  the 
American  continent.  But  the  awakening  of 
the  people  to  the  consciousness  of  their  polit- 
ical virility  was 
no  better  than 
an  awakening  by 
the  hand  of  an 
executioner. 

On  a  bright 
day  in  October, 
1 764,  the  men  of 
the  city  were 
called  together 
in  the  place  d' 
amies,  to  listen 
to  the  royal  edict 
that  transferred 
them,  their  fam- 
ilies, and  prop- 
erty ;  in  short,  all  the  territory  and  subjects  yet 
possessed  by  France  in  America,  to  Spain.  The 
consternation  of  the  people,  their  indignation 
and  excitement,  their  public  meetings,  address 
to  the  King,  their  repudiation  of  Spanish  au- 
thority and   Spanish  government,  the  bloody 


THE  JACKSON    MONUMENT- 


424  New  Orleans 

punishment  by  O'Reilly,  executing  six  and  im- 
prisoning in  Havana  five  of  the  conspirators, 
as  he  called  them,  and,  finally,  the  forcing  of 
the  colony  under  the  domination  of  Spain  — 
all  of  this  can  but  be  enumerated  here,  but  it 
forms  a  chapter  in  the  history  of  New  Or- 
leans, the  omission  of  which  can  be  justified 
only  by  necessity. 

The  city  became  Spanish  in  language,  law, 
manner,  dress,  —  in  all  externals,  but  its  heart 
remained  firmly  French,  as  after  events  proved. 
It  is  ever  acknowledged,  however,  in  the  his- 
tory of  the  city,  that  the  Spanish  rule  was  a 
wise  and  just  one  ;  and,  as  is  well  said  by  all 
chroniclers,  the  Spanish  found  the  city  a  city 
of  wooden  one-story  houses,  and  left  it  a  city 
of  brick  mansions. 

It  was  during  the  Spanish  domination  that 
the  great  conflagration  of  i  788  took  place — 
when  the  heart  of  the  vicii  carrc  was  left  a 
mere  heap  of  rubbish  and  ashes.  Bienville 
himself  had  not  a  barer  spot  before  him  when 
he  laid  out  the  first  streets  in  his  clearingf  than 
Don  Andres  Almonester,  the  Alferez  Real  had 
when,  in  the  midst  of  the  public  sorrow  and  grief 
over  the  disaster,  he  offered  to  rebuild  the  re- 
ligious and   civil   official  edifices.      His  tomb- 


New  Orleans  425 

stone  in  the  Cathedral  gives  the  list  of  his 
claims  upon  the  gratitude  of  posterity  : 
founder  and  donor  of  the  Holy  Cathedral 
Church,  founder  of  the  Royal  Hospital  of  St. 
Charles  (the  present  Charity  Hospital),  foun- 
der of  the  hospital  for  lepers,  of  the  Church  of 
the  Ursulines  Convent,  of  a  public  school  ; 
of  the  Casa-Curiel  (Court-House) — in  virtue 
of  which  munificence,  Don  Andres  lies  buried 
under  the  altar  of  the  Cathedral,  and  a  prayer 
is  said  for  the  repose  of  his  soul  every  day  at 
Vespers. 

Following  the  example  of  the  edifices  of 
Don  Andres,  private  buildings  were  con- 
structed on  a  style  grandiose  beyond  any  that 
the  city  had  seen  before,  and  the  manner  of 
living  imitated  the  manner  of  building.  And 
now,  under  the  well-regulated,  ponderous 
monotony  of  the  Spanish  domination,  the 
city  might  have  enjoyed  a  repose  as  immuta- 
ble as  that  of  her  pious  benefactor,  had  it 
not  been  for  the  great  stream  rolling  past  her 
to  the  Gulf. 

No  longer  did  the  Upper  Mississippi  flow 
through  virgin  forests  and  savage  villages.  Out 
of  the  independence  of  the  United  colonies  was 
born  the  "  West," — the  great  West  as  it  was 


426  New  Orleans 

then  and  is  still  called,  teeming  with  energy  and 
hardihood,  with  fruitfulness  and  prosperity. 
Before  the  day  of  railroads  rivers  furnished 
the  only  outlet  to  commerce.  The  Missis- 
sippi, gathering  up  with  the  waters  of  its  trib- 
utaries the  harvests  of  their  valleys,  bore 
down  to  New  Orleans  a  continuous  line  of 
flatboats  laden  to  the  edcre.  The  careoes 
found  ready  sale  and  were  soon  the  main  food- 
supply  of  the  city,  and  the  sturdy  flatboatmen 
returning  to  their  farms  were  ever  better  and 
better  satisfied  with  their  market,  and  more 
and  more  discontented  with  the  foreign  own- 
ership of  it.  In  their  parlance,  the  valley 
owned  the  river,  and  the  ri\-er  owned  the 
mouth.  Spanish  obstinacy  and  American 
temper,  concessions  and  evasions,  threats  and 
brawls,  kept  the  city  for  a  score  of  years  filled 
to  the  brim  with  political  excitement.  Outside 
the  wall  and  canal  —  the  Canal  Street  of  to-day 
—  lay  a  new  city,  an  American  city,  populated 
by  flatboatmen  and  produce  traders,  against 
which  the  gates  of  the  Spanish  city  were  care- 
fully closed  and  sentinels  set  at  nightfall. 

But  it  were  as  well  to  attempt  to  hold  back 
the  current  of  the  river  itself  as  the  current  of 
popular  determination  that  flowed  down  with 


New  Orleans 


427 


it  from  Its  great  valley.  As  it  came,  so,  by 
secret  compact,  the  Spanish  flag  went — to  be 
replaced   not  by  the  old  Fleur-de-Lys,  but  by 


CANAL  STREET,  NEW  ORLEANS. 


the  Tricolor  ;  the  new  and  glorious  banner  of 
liberty,  equality,  and  fraternity.  It  was  easily 
made  at  home  in  a  city  whose  republicanism 
under  the  pruning  of  Spanish  rule  had  only 
rooted  itself  the  more  deeply. 


428 


New  Orleans 


For  a  short  space,  popular  jo)'  rioted  in 
wild  rejoicings.  But  it  was  only  for  a  moment 
that  the  French  flag  fluttered  over  the  place 
d'  armcs,  a  bare  three  weeks.  Then  it  descend- 
ed its  staff  and  the  American  flag:  rose  in  its 
place.  In  the  Casa  Real,  the  seat  of  the  Spanish 
Cabildo,  the  ceremony  of  the  cession  of  Louisi- 


THE   CABILDO,  OLD  COURT   BUILDING,  JACKSON  SQUARE. 

ana  to  the  United  States  took  place,  the  most 
important  event,  judged  by  results,  that  has  ta- 
ken place  in  the  history  of  the  Republic,  enlarg- 
ing the  United  States  in  domain  by  a  territory 
three  and  a  half  times  as  g^reat  as  its  orieinal 
size,  raising  it  in  political  sovereignty  to  parity 
with  the  greatest  European  powers.  The 
Spanish  walls  were  demolished,  but  the  Amer- 


ST.   FRIES  CATHEDRAL. 
429 


430  New  Orleans 

ican  domination  made  slow  impression  upon 
the  vieii  carr^.  It  has  never  really  altered  the 
type.  There  was,  correctly  speaking,  no  Amer- 
ican domination  in  the  vicit,  carrd  until  the 
term  ceased  to  be  used,  when  Louisiana  was 
admitted  as  a  State  into  the  Union. 

The  memorable  discussion  in  Congress  over 
the  admission  of  Louisiana  need  be  recalled 
here  only  to  introduce  the  next  important  event 
in  her  history, — the  great  and  glorious  victory 
of  the  Battle  of  New  Orleans  on  the  8th  of 
January,  1815.  That  victory  was  the  vindica- 
tion of  Louisiana's  right  to  Statehood  in  the 
Union  ; — it  was  New  Orleans's  dower  gift  to 
the  Nation's  history. 

The  American  quarter,  the  new  town,  built 
by  the  flatboatmen  outside  the  wall  of  the  old 
town,  is  still  called  the  American  quarter  by 
the  old  inhabitants.  In  architecture  and  phys- 
iognomy, in  material  prosperity  and  educational 
progress,  it  rightfully  and  justly  represents  the 
American  domination.  But  for  art,  poetry, 
romance,  sentiment,  and  inspiration  the  deni- 
zens of  the  new  city  flee  into  the  old  mother 
quarter  as  into  a  sanctuary,  where  in  the  quiet 
and  gloom,  it  may  be,  of  the  past,  they  find  ref- 
uge from  the  glare  and  incessant   pursuit   of 


New  Orleans 


431 


activities  of  the  present.  It  is  the  quarter  that 
strangers  love.  Upon  any  one  of  the  fine  days 
of  a  New  Orleans  winter,  a  score  or  more  of 
these  visitors  may  be  seen,  strolling  through 
the  aisles  of  the  Cathedral,  or  the  halls  of  the 
old  Cabildo,  or  sitting  in  the  sun  on  the  benches 
of  Jackson  Square  watching  the  leisurely,  pic- 
turesque procession  of  passers-by,  as  the  soft 
bells  of  the  Cathedral  mark  the  no  less  leisurely 
procession  of  the  hours. 

"  Orleans,  Gentilly, 
D'Artaguette,  Marigny, 

Bourbon  !  Bourbon  ! 
Gayoso,  Galvez,  Bouligny, 
Casacalvo,  Derbigny, 

Don  Almonester's  bells  intone  ; 
For  Bienville  and  for  Serigny, 
For  d'  Iberville,  for  d'Assigny 

They  make  incessant  moan. 
Orleans,  Gentilly 
D'Artaguette,  Marigny, 

Bourbon  !     Bourbon  !  " 


VICKSBURG 
THE   CITY   ON   THE   WALNUT   HILLS 


By  H.   F.  SIMRALL 


VICKSBURG  has  no  colonial  traditions. 
The  Walnut  Hills  on  which  it  stands, 
near  the  northern  margin  of  that  portion  of 
Mississippi  which  was  successively  under  the 
sway  of  France,  Great  Britain  and  Spain, 
could  not  be  settled  and  improved  until  long 
after  the  region  about  Natchez.  The  city  is, 
in  fact,  of  modern  origin.  The  county  of 
Warren  was  not  organized  until  1809,  and 
Vicksburg  had  no  real  existence  until  it  be- 
came in  1836,  second  after  Warrenton,  the 
county-seat. 

To  understand  the  late  origin  of  the  town, 
one  should  study  the  colonial  history  of  Missis- 
sippi. By  the  discovery  and  exploration  of  the 
Mississippi  in  1680-82,  France  claimed  all  the 
territory  drained  by  the  river  and  its  affluents 


433 


434  Vicksburg 

from  the  source  to  the  mouth,  and  also  all  ter- 
ritory east  and  west  drained  by  streams  that 
entered  the  Gulf  of  Mexico.  The  French  col- 
ony was  planted  at  Biloxi  on  the  Gulf  coast, 
which  was  made  the  capital.  Shortly  after- 
wards the  capital  was  transferred  to  Mobile 
and  finally  located  at  New  Orleans.  Settle- 
ments spread  slowly  along  the  shores  of  the 
Gulf  and  up  the  Mississippi  River,  penetrating 
but  a  short  distance  inland  on  account  of  the 
contiguity  of  hostile  Indians. 

During  the  eighteen  years  of  British  control 
that  followed  the  French  and  Indian  War,  an 
impulse  was  given  to  emigration  from  Great 
Britain,  and  from  the  older  colonies  some  set- 
tlers came  who  desired  to  avoid  participation 
in  the  Revolutionary  War.  In  1779-80  Spain 
drove  Great  Britain  out  of  the  territory  west 
of  the  Mississippi,  acquired  by  the  treaty  which 
closed  the  French  and  Indian  War,  and  held 
and  controlled  the  same  for  fifteen  or  more 
years,  with  the  colonial  seat  of  authority  at 
Natchez.  By  the  treaty  of  peace  with  Great 
Britain  at  the  close  of  the  Revolutionary  War, 
the  Mississippi  River  on  the  west  and  the  31st 
parallel  on  the  south  were  declared  the  boun- 
daries of  the  United  States. 


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43^  Vicksburg 

During  the  Spanish  possession  and  control 
of  the  lower  Mississippi  River,  serious  protests 
and  diplomatic  representations  had  been  made 
to  Spain  against  the  onerous  exactions  and 
tributes  which  she  imposed  on  commerce  from 
the  upper  valley  and  imports  through  New  Or- 
leans. To  haul  the  tobacco,  wheat,  corn,  pork 
and  other  bulky  products  of  the  region  across 
the  mountains  over  dirt  roads  to  Baltimore,  the 
nearest  seaport  and  market,  was  hardly  possible. 
The  Mississippi  River  was  the  quick  and  easy 
highway  to  New  Orleans  and  tide-water.  Spain 
was  under  treaty  obligation  to  allow  free  navi- 
gation of  the  Mississippi,  and  to  deal  liberally 
at  New  Orleans  with  commerce  from  the  up- 
per valley,  but  she  shamefully  set  at  nought 
her  obligations,  until,  in  sheer  exasperation, 
the  people  of  Kentucky  and  Tennessee  were 
on  the  point  of  fitting  out  a  military  force  with 
which  to  open  the  river  to  free  navigation  and 
commerce  and  to  drive  Spain  from  New  Or- 
leans. The  Federal  Government  rose  to  the 
emergency,  and  Spain,  obliged  to  choose  be- 
tween war  or  cession,  concluded  in  1 795  a 
treaty  of  cession,  by  which  she  surrendered  the 
territory  in  question  and  agreed  to  retire  within 
six  months  after  ratification  of  the  treaty. 


Vicksburg  437 

Georgia,  claiming  that  her  colonial  limits  by 
the  charter  of  1735  extended  by  parallel  lines 
westward  to  the  Mississippi  River,  in  1785 
organized  in  southwest  Mississippi  a  county 
called  Bourbon,  and  appointed  justices  of  the 
peace,  who,  however,  never  attempted  to  exer- 
cise their  functions.  In  1795,  the  year  the 
treaty  was  made  with  Spain,  Georgia  sold  to 
four  of  the  speculation  land  companies  enor- 
mous acreages  of  land  in  what  is  now  Ala- 
bama  and  Mississippi. 

The  first  relief,  permanent  and  secure,  from 
all  the  discouragements  to  emigration  was 
furnished  when  the  Congress  of  the  United 
States,  in  1798,  organized  a  territorial  gov- 
ernment for  Mississippi  and  applied  to  it  all 
the  benefits,  advantages  and  privileges  of  the 
Ordinance  of  1787  for  the  government  of  the 
territory  northwest  of  the  river  Ohio,  except 
the  clause  of  the  sixth  article,  which  prohibited 
slavery.  Georgia  in  turn  promptly  yielded 
up  her  territorial  and  political  claims  to  the 
United  States  for  pecuniary  and  other  con- 
siderations. 

From  the  date  of  organized  authority,  popu- 
lation rapidly  poured  in.  The  Bayou,  Pearl 
and  the   Big   Black  ceased  to  be   the    outer 


43^  Vicksburo^ 


& 


confines  of  the  new  settlers.  They  spread  rap- 
idly over  all  the  lands  which  the  Indians  had 
ceded.  As  settlements  were  carried  east  of 
the  Walnut  Hills  a  town  at  that  point  became 
a  necessity  for  trade.  A  town  was  laid  off 
on  the  plantations  of  William  Vick  and  John 
Lane  into  blocks  or  squares  by  parallel  streets 
north  and  south,  east  and  west.  The  building- 
of  a  town  on  the  bluff  at  the  southern  extrem- 
ity of  the  delta  and  of  easy  access  to  the  up- 
lands eastward  was  a  natural  response  to  the 
needs  of  commerce.  Its  growth  and  develop- 
ment have  kept  pace  with  the  increase  of 
agricultural  production  of  the  region  tributary 
to  it.  The  Vicksburg  of  to-day  is  specially 
adapted  to  the  manufacture  of  cotton,  lumber 
and  metals  into  finished  goods.  Raw  material 
is  abundant  and  available.  Transportation  by 
water  and  rail  to  home  and  foreiofn  markets  is 
adequate  to  meet  the  largest  demands.  When 
the  Isthmian  Canal  shall  have  been  con- 
structed, the  ports  on  the  Gulf  will  be  nearer 
the  Orient  than  the  ports  on  the  Atlantic,  and 
unusual  impulse  will  be  given  to  manufactures 
and  agriculture. 

Large  plants   for  the   utilization   of   cotton 
seed  are  in  full  operation  at  Vicksburg  ;  match 


Vicksburg  439 

and  furniture  factories  are  actively  at  work. 
Other  enterprises  are  slowly  building  up,  and 
the  natural  and  economic  advantages  of  the 
city  for  manufactures  are  becoming  more  ap- 
parent. 

The  public  buildings  of  Vicksburg — Court- 
House,  Post  Office,  churches,  schoolhouses,  and 
hotels — are  typical  and  creditable.  The  Court- 
House,  situated  on  one  of  the  highest  emi- 
nences, towers  above  the  surrounding  buildings 
and  is  pleasing  to  the  eye  from  every  point  of 
view.  The  tradition  is  that  it  was  planned 
and  designed  by  a  slave  belonging  to  the 
contractor  who  built  it.  The  United  States 
buildine  is  handsome  and  commodious.  The 
city  abounds  in  churches.  It  is  provided  with 
an  excellent  system  of  waterworks  and  electric 
street-railway  service.  The  system  recently 
adopted  of  free  education  for  both  races  has 
from  time  to  time  been  so  enlarged  as  to  its 
curriculum  of  studies  and  improved  as  to  its 
methods,  that  it  has  superseded  private  schools, 
except  an  educational  establishment  for  both 
sexes  under  the  control  of  the  Roman  Catholic 
Church. 

Vicksbure  has  been  the  home  of  several  of 
the  State's  ablest  men,  who  have  proved  large 


440  Vicksburg 

factors  in  making  history.  S.  S.  Prentiss  was 
an  orator  of  national  reputation  and  an  eminent 
lawyer.  Others  worthy  of  mention  are  :  Judge 
W.  L.  Sharkey,  one  of  the  most  learned  jurists 
of  the  Southwest  ;  Governor  John  J.  Guion  ; 
Governor  McNutt ;  Walter  Brooks;  United 
States  Senator  George  Yerger ;  a  great  lawyer, 
Joseph  Holt,  in  later  life  Attorney-General  of 
the  United  States.  Jefferson  Davis,  President 
of  the  Confederate  States,  Senator  in  Con- 
gress and  a  gallant  and  distinguished  soldier, 
lived  the  greater  part  of  his  life  in  Warren 
County,  a  few  miles  south  of  the  city. 

We  now  come  to  that  period  in  the  history 
of  Vicksburg,  when,  during  the  Civil  War,  for 
a  time  the  even  current  of  commercial  and 
business  life  gave  place  to  a  series  of  events, 
perhaps  the  most  notable  and  far-reaching  in 
influence  on  the  shiftinor  fortunes  and  results  of 
the  o;reat  conflict.  The  bluffs  at  Vicksburor 
are  of  pre-eminent  importance  as  a  strategic 
point  to  the  complete  control  of  the  great 
river  which  almost  divides  the  continent  from 
south  to  north,  penetrates  the  upper  valley 
nearly  to  the  great  chain  of  lakes,  and  with  its 
af^uents  alTords  about  fifteen  thousand  miles 
of  navigation.      No  object  contributing  to  the 


Vicksburg  44 1 

final  issue  of  the  war  could  have  presented 
itself  to  the  great  leaders  on  both  sides  of  the 
conflict  as  of  more  urgent  need  than  the  posses- 
sion and  control  of  the  Mississippi.  In  1862, 
movements  were  begun  against  the  fortifica- 
tions which  the  Confederates  had  placed  on 
the  Cumberland  and  Tennessee  and  the  upper 
Mississippi.  So  important  and  urgent  did  this 
appear  as  a  necessary  means  to  a  speedy  and 
successful  close  of  the  war  that  operations  were 
begun  very  early  to  drive  the  Confederates 
from  the  river,  and  were  conducted  both  from 
above  and  from  its  mouth.  The  close  of  the 
year  1862  found  the  Federal  naval  and  military 
forces  dominating  the  river  from  the  north  as 
far  south  as  Vicksburg,  and  from  the  south  as 
far  north  as  Port  Hudson.  A  campaign,  sup- 
ported by  the  fleet,  was  undertaken  on  the  east 
side  of  the  river.  The  Federal  forces  moved 
from  the  Yazoo  River  along  the  banks  of  the 
Chickasaw  Bayou  with  a  view  of  gaining  a 
foothold  on  the  bluffs  above  the  city.  A 
battle,  stubbornly  contested,  was  fought,  and 
resulted  in  the  defeat  and  repulse  of  the  Union 
forces.  It  demonstrated  the  impracticability 
of  capturing  the  city  by  attacking  the  army 
entrenched  on  the  bluffs. 


442 


Vicksburg 


The  following-  year  a  much  larger  army  was 
convoyed  down  the  river  by  a  Heet  of  gunboats, 

and  landed 
at  Milliken's 
bend,  sixteen 
or  seventeen 
miles  above 
the  city,  on 
the  west  bank 
of  the  river. 
A  tentative 
and  unsuc- 
cessful effort 
\\'  as  made 
by  General 
Grant  to  di- 
vert the  river 
across  the  pe- 
ninsula by  cut- 
tinor  a  canal, 
so  as  to  pass 
his  vessels  of 
war  and  trans- 
ports below  out  of  reach  of  the  batteries  on 
the  bluffs.  Meantime  a  furious  and  incessant 
cannonade  was  kept  up  between  the  gunboats 
and  shore  batteries.      Finally  a  large  part  of 


PORTRAIT  OF  GENERAL  U.  S.  GRANT. 


Vicksburg  443 

his  fleet,  under  cover  of  the  darkness  of  night, 
succeeded  in  passing  the  batteries,  with  the 
loss  of  one  vessel  and  serious  damage  to  others. 
This  movement  on  the  water,  followed  by  the 
marching  of  the  army  down  the  west  bank, 
unmistakably  indicated  to  General  Pemberton, 
Confederate  commandant,  the  plan  and  pur- 
pose of  the  campaign.  He  promptly  withdrew 
the  most  of  his  army  from  the  breastworks, 
crossed  the  Big  Black  River,  and  so  disposed 
his  men  as  to  retard  or  arrest  altogether  the 
march  of  General  Grant.  General  Pember- 
ton's  plan  was  to  form  a  junction  with  General 
Johnston,  who  was  on  his  way  to  take  part 
in  the  defence  of  Vicksburg.  General  Grant 
succeeded  in  interposing  his  army  between 
Johnston  and  Pemberton,  gave  battle  to  John- 
ston at  Jackson,  and  obliged  him  to  fall  back 
northward  to  Canton.  Heavy  and  obstinate 
battles  were  fought  at  Baker's  Creek,  Champion 
Hills  and  at  Big  Black.  Pemberton,  failing  tO' 
unite  forces  with  Johnston,  deemed  it  prudent 
to  recross  the  Big  Black,  return  and  re-occupy 
his  trenches  round  the  city.  General  Grant 
followed  and  closely  invested  the  Confeder- 
ate works,  placing  his  army  behind  breast- 
works and  in  trenches.      Two  or  three  gallant. 


444  Vicksburg 

assaults  made  on  the  Confederate  works  were 
met  with  determined  courage  and  repulsed 
with  great  loss  of  life.  The  control  of  the 
riv^er  by  the  gunboats,  above  and  below,  made 
the  reception  of  reinforcements  or  supplies 
from  the  west  or  from  any  source  b)-  water,  im- 
possible. The  land  forces  spread  around  the 
fortifications  cut  off  succor  from  the  south  and 
east,  so  that  it  became  a  mere  question  of  time, 
before  starvation  would  compel  a  surrender 
without  more  waste  of  life  in  hazardous  and 
bloody  assaults.  When  Pemberton  marched  to 
the  Big  Black,  the  supply  of  food  in  the  city  was 
low  ;  on  his  return  his  army  was  placed  on  short 
rations.  Constant  service  on  the  fortifications, 
inadequate  food  supply  and  midsummer  heat 
developed  a  great  deal  of  sickness,  so  that 
when  the  surrender  was  made  on  the  4th  of 
July,  after  a  siege  of  forty  days,  provisions 
were  about  exhausted,  and  one  third  or  more 
of  the  garrison  were  on  the  sick-list,  unfit  for 
military  duty.  It  is  perhaps  not  out  of  place 
to  say  that  in  no  campaign  of  the  Civil  War 
was  there  higher  courage  or  greater  devotion 
to  soldierly  duty  displayed  than  here,  by  both 
participants.  The  events  of  the  siege  derive 
their  true  significance  from  the  circumstance 


MAJ.  CtwrCRANT'S   Hbo'RS 
-^^uwftQ  me  Stt6t 


t  ftozRAL  won/ts 


^ 


* 


\ 


(  \ 


SIEGE  CF  VICKSBURQ. 


445 


44^  Vicksburg 

that  they  constituted  the  fatal  blow  which 
broke  the  Confederate  power  and  hastened  the 
war  to  its  end. 

The  National  Cemetery  on  the  bluffs,  just 
north  of  the  corporate  limits  of  the  city,  is, 
taken  all  in  all,  perhaps  the  most  attractive 
patriotic  cemetery  in  the  South.  The  visitor 
to  the  city  always  seeks  it  first.  Nature  has 
given  to  it  sublimity  ;  art  and  landscape-engi- 
neering have  imparted  all  the  freshness  and 
loveliness  that  flower  and  shrub  and  tree  can 
give.  Here  rest  sixteen  thousand  soldiers  who 
lost  their  lives  in  the  service  of  their  country 
in  and  around  Vicksburg.  Such  care  and  ven- 
eration for  those  who  fell  under  the  national 
flag  while  a  grateful  tribute  to  valor  and  hero- 
ism serve  at  the  same  time  to  keep  ever  fresh 
and  active  sentiments  of  martial  valor  and  a 
warmer  pride  in  all  that  adds  glory  to  the 
country  and  illustrates  its  military  prowess. 

Nothing  could  more  strongly  and  nobly 
testify  to  the  fact  that  all  the  issues  and  con- 
troversies which  culminated  in  a  long  and 
bloody  war  have  been  closed  and  settled  and 
relegated  to  the  past  than  the  measures  now 
in  process  of  execution  to  convert  the  trenches 
and   bastions    around    the    city    of  Vicksburg 


Vicksburg 


447 


into  a  park  beautified  by  all  that  landscape- 
engineering  and  art  can  do  to  make  the  place 
attractive.  That  which  appeals  to-day  with  so 
much  force  to  the  sensibilities  of  Americans 
is  not  so  much  the  mere  transformation  of  the 
rugged  hills,  as  that  the  place  so  wonderfully 
transformed  is  and  will  ever  be  a  perpetual 
witness  that  sectional  discords  and  strifes  have 
disappeared  from  our  national  life,  and  that 
henceforth  the  great  family  of  States  and  Ter- 
ritories, with  their  seventy  or  eighty  millions 
of  people,  are  members  and  citizens  of  a  com- 
mon country,  protected  by  the  same  flag,  the 
emblem  of  sovereignty  to  all. 


KNOXVILLE 
THE  METROPOLIS  OF  EASTERN  TENNESSEE 

By  JOSHUA  W.  CALDWELL 

THE  beginnings  of  Knoxville  were  Scotch- 
Irish.  Its  founder  was  James  White,  a 
Scotch-Irishman  from  North  Carohna.  Its 
first  place  of  worship  was  a  Scotch-Irish  Pres- 
byterian Church,  wherein  the  faith  of  the  Cov- 
enant was  preached  without  mitigation,  to  the 
edification  and  uphfting  of  the  community. 
The  dominant  element  of  its  population  until 
after  the  Civil  War  was  Presbyterian,  and  it 
is  still  strong. 

The  first  effort  of  the  white  men  to  possess 
themselves  of  any  part  of  Tennessee  was  in 
1 756,  when  old  Fort  Loudon  was  erected  about 
thirty  miles  west  of  where  Knoxville  now 
stands.  Fort  Loudon  did  not  long  resist  the 
Cherokees.     Its  short  story  is  one  of  the  most 

^'  449 


450 


Knoxville 


romantic   and   one   of   the  most  tragic  in  the 
early  history  of  the  Southwest. 

Twelve  years  later,  the  first  permanent  set- 
tlement in  Tennessee  was  made  upon  the 
waters  of  the  Watauga  in  the  northeast  cor- 

ner  of  the  State. 
This  little  com- 
munity became, 
soon  afterwards, 
the  Watauga 
Association,  a 
practically  inde- 
pendent govern- 
ment, w  i  t  h  a 
written  constitu- 
tion ;  indisputa- 
bly the  first  of 
the  kind  that  was 
formed  on  this 
continent,  by 
men  of  American 
birth,  and  inspired  by  American  sentiment. 
Its  leaders  were  James  Robertson,  afterwards 
the  founder  of  Nashville,  a  typical  Scotch-Irish 
pioneer  ;  John  Sevier,  afterwards  the  first 
Governor  of  Tennessee,  a  man  of  mixed  An- 
glo-Saxon   and    Huguenot    descent,    and    of 


JOHN  SEVIER,  FIRST  GOVERNOR   OF 
TENNESSEE. 


Knoxville  45 1 

extraordinary  abilities,  who  became  a  resident 
of  Knoxville;  and  John  Carter,  presumably 
descended  from  the  noted  Virginia  family  of 
that  name,  many  of  whose  descendants  are 
citizens  of   Knoxville. 

About  the  year  1787,  the  settlements  having 
extended  gradually  down  the  Holston,  we  find 
James  White  living  upon  the  site  of  Knoxville 
and  owning,  then  or  later,  much  of  the  land 
now  covered  by  the  city.  If  traditionary  state- 
ments are  to  be  trusted,  a  part  at  least  of  the 
first  house  erected  by  James  White  is  still 
standing,  its  original  sturdy  and  loopholed 
logs  protected  and  preserved  by  a  sheathing  of 
boards.  The  name  first  given  the  settlement 
was  "  White's  Fort." 

In  1790,  North  Carolina  having  ceded  her 
possessions  west  of  the  Alleghanies  to  the 
United  States,  the  "  Territory  of  the  United 
States  South  of  the  River  Ohio  "  was  created, 
and  President  Washington  named  as  its  Gov- 
ernor his  friend  William  Blount,  of  North  Car- 
olina. In  1 79 1,  Governor  Blount  decided  to 
make  White's  Fort,  which  was  by  that  time 
called  Knoxville  in  honor  of  General  Henry 
Knox,  the  capital  of  the  territory,  and  the 
town  site  was  surveyed   in  part   and  laid  off 


452 


Knoxville 


into  lots  by  its  owner,  James  White,  in  that 
year. 

The  location   is  on  the  north  bank  of  the 
Holston,    four    miles    south    of    the    junction 

of  the  French 
Broad  and  Hol- 
ston rivers,  giv- 
ing to  the  last 
stream  the  name 
to  which  it  is 
entitled,  without 
regard  to  many 
temporary,  inef- 
fective and  inde- 
fensible changes 
of  river  nomen- 
clature in  East 
Tennessee  by 
legislation.  Be- 
t  w  e  e  n  two 
creeks,  once 
clear  and  vigor- 
ous, but  now  defiled  and  depleted  by  many  civil- 
ized uses,  rises  a  plateau  of  about  two  hundred 
and  fifty  acres,  of  diversified  but  comparatively 
level  surface.  Where  this  elevation  slopes  to 
the  river  on  the  southeast,  the  town  made  its 


WILLIAM   BLOUNT,    GOVERNOR  OF 
SOUTHWEST  TERRITORY. 


Knoxville  453 

beginning,  and  climbed  slowly  up  the  hill  until 
it  reached  the  highest  point  overlooking  the 
river,  which  was  crowned  with  a  blockhouse 
known  as  the  barracks,  where  a  scanty  garrison 
of  regulars  was  intended  to  protect  the  settlers 
and  to  overawe  the  Cherokees.  The  barracks 
boasted  at  least  one  great  gun,  which  was  fired 
morning  and  evening  with  punctuality  and 
impressiveness. 

The  coming  of  Governor  Blount  was  the 
beeinninof  of  the  greatness  of  Knoxville. 
Blount  was  a  notable  man.  He  had  been 
a  silent  but  respected  and  not  uninfluential 
member  of  the  convention  that  framed  the 
Federal  Constitution.  He  was  the  friend  of 
Washington,  and  his  lineage  was  most  ancient 
and  most  honorable,  reaching  back  to  the 
time  of  William  the  Conqueror,  in  whose  train, 
and  among  the  beneficiaries  of  whose  bounty, 
was  one  of  his  ancestors.  The  family  had 
been  settled  long,  in  opulent  circumstances 
and  in  social  and  political  prominence,  in 
North  Carolina.  The  Governor  was  a  man 
of  education,  of  fine  presence,  of  graceful  and 
winning  manners. and  of  unfailing,  if  dignified, 
urbanity.  He  was  unquestionably  the  first 
gentleman  as  well  as  the  chief  magistrate  of 


454  Knoxvillc 

the  "Territory  of  the  United  States  South  of 
the  River  Ohio,"  although  neither  honorable 
lineaees  nor  orood  manners  were  wanting 
there.  In  addition  to  all  this  his  Excellency 
was  most  fortunate  in  his  wife.  The  praises 
of  the  lovely  and  accomplished  Mary  Grainger 
Blount  were  in  the  mouths  of  all  men,  and 
even  of  many  women  in  those  days.  It  was 
a  memorable  occasion  when  the  Governor 
brought  his  gracious  lady  from  North  Caro- 
lina to  Knoxville,  and  placed  her  at  the  head 
of  his  court,  which  was  conducted  with  no 
little  circumstance  and  dignity. 

It  is  said  that  he  imported,  likewise,  weather- 
boarding,  wherewith  he  encased  the  logs  of  a 
great  house  which  he  had  constructed  as  a 
home  for  his  wife,  and  that  no  sooner  had  this 
attractive  and  expensive  transformation  been 
accomplished,  than  the  front  yard  was  con- 
verted into  a  flower  garden,  the  first  of  its 
kind  in  the  town,  and  certainly  one  of  the  most 
admired  anywhere. 

In  July,  1 79 1,  Governor  Blount  made  at 
Knoxville  a  treaty  with  the  Cherokees. 
Nearly  fifteen  hundred  Indians  were  present, 
includino-  fortv-one  chiefs.  The  Governor  had 
caused  to  be  erected  in  a  conspicuous  place  on 


Knoxville  455 

a  hillside  overlooking  the  river  a  large   tent, 
wherein  he  remained  withdrawn  until  all  the 
expected  company  had  assembled.     Then  the 
doors  of  the  tent  were  thrown   open   and  he 
stood    forth,    arrayed    in    splendor,    and    sur- 
rounded by  the  chief  civil  and  military  nota- 
bles of   the  territory.       The   resplendency    of 
his    Excellency's    dress-sword,   laced  coat  and 
cocked  hat  are  much  commented  on  by  histo- 
rians.     Second    in    splendor    of    raiment    and 
dignity  of  deportment  to  the   Governor  only, 
was  James  Armstrong,  known  as  "  Trooper," 
formerly  a  dragoon  in  his  Britannic  Majesty's 
service,    and    versed    in    the    ways    of    courts. 
The  Annalist  of  Tennessee  characterizes  him, 
for  this  occasion,    as   ''arbiter  elegantiarumy 
The  Governor  stood  upon  a  platform,  and  one 
by  one  in  due  order  the  Cherokee  chiefs  were 
presented  by  Mr.  Armstrong,  while  the  assem- 
bled warriors  gazed  in  awe  upon  the  imposing 
ceremony.      A    treaty    was    solemnly    entered 
into,  and  was  speedily  broken  by  both  whites 
and  Indians. 

In  1794,  an  act  of  the  territorial  Legisla- 
ture was  passed,  which  after  reciting  the 
founding,  in  1791,  of  a  town  named  Knox- 
ville in  honor  of  Major-General  Henry  Knox, 


45^  Knoxville 

"said  town  consisting  of  sixty-four  lots,  num- 
bered from  one  to  sixty-four  consecutively," 
enacts  in  solemn  form,  that  a  town  be  estab- 
lished on  the  spot  indicated,  and  names  com- 
missioners for  its  government.  In  1797, 
fifty-nine  more  lots  with  necessary  streets  were 
added.  In  1799,  the  town  was  authorized  by 
law  to  elect  its  commissioners,  but  for  two 
years  the  act  seems  to  have  been  ineffec- 
tive. The  commissioners  when  finally  elected 
entered  promptly  upon  a  course  of  vigor- 
ous municipal  legislation  and  administration. 
Among  other  things  a  town  sergeant  was 
elected,  and  required  to  patrol  the  streets 
three  nights  a  week,  or  oftener  at  his  option. 
Slaughter-pens  within  the  town  limits,  wooden 
chimneys,  hogs  upon  the  streets,  dead  or  alive, 
and  the  firing  of  guns  and  pistols  within  the 
corporate  limits  were  declared  nuisances,  pun- 
ishable by  fine,  fifty  cents  being  the  highest 
lawful  fine.  Two  of  the  offences  for  which 
this  highest  fine  was  prescribed  were  drunken- 
ness and  Sabbath-breaking.  A  few  years  later, 
presumably  under  pressure  of  popular  demand, 
the  hog  ordinance  was  repealed,  but  the  pro- 
vision against  wooden  chimneys  seems  to  have 
been  rigorously  enforced. 


Knoxville  457 

In  1815,  the  town  was  empowered  to  elect 
a  Mayor,  and  Thomas  Emmerson,  afterwards 
a  Judge  of  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  State, 
became  the  first  Mayor. 

That  the  name  Knoxville  had  been  adopted 
before  November  5,  1 791,  is  made  certain  by 
the  fact  that  on  that  day  appeared  the  initial 
number  of  the  Knoxville  Gazette,  the  first 
newspaper  published  within  the  bounds  of 
Tennessee.  Its  publisher  was  one  George 
Roulstone,  a  native  of  New  England,  whose 
Yankee  enterprise  appeared  in  the  fact  that 
while  the  paper  from  the  first  was  called  the 
Knoxville  Gazette,  it  was  for  some  time  pub- 
lished at  Rogersville,  an  older  town,  seventy 
miles  east  of  Knoxville.  It  is  supposed  that 
the  publisher  was  prevented  by  difficulties  of 
transportation  from  moving  his  press  to  Knox- 
ville. The  Gazette  was  a  three-column  paper 
of  four  pages.  It  had  not  many  advertise- 
ments and  very  little  local  news,  but  was  filled 
with  accounts  of  the  French  Revolution  and  of 
European  affairs  in  general.  It  gave  much 
space  to  questions  of  ethics,  and  reprinted 
many  political  and  patriotic  speeches. 

The  first  and  only  Legislature  of  the  Terri- 
tory   met    at    Knoxville    in    February,    1794. 


45^  Knoxville 

Among-  the  acts  passed  was  one  establishing 
a  college  near  Knoxville,  to  be  called  Blount 
College,  in  honor  of  the  Governor,  This  it  is 
believed  was  the  first  strictly  non-sectarian  in- 
stitution of  higher  learning  established  in  the 
United  States.  It  was  afterwards  successively 
named  East  Tennessee  College,  East  Tennes- 
see University,  and  the  University  of  Ten- 
nessee, under  which  last  name  it  now  exists 
and  flourishes.  It  is  unsurpassed  among 
Southern  institutions  of  learning  for  its  thor- 
oughness, and  in  respect  of  its  beautiful  situa- 
tion is  almost  un equaled  in  the  whole  country. 
The  treaty  made  by  Governor  Blount  in 
1 79 1  bound  the  whites  to  refrain  from  en- 
croachments on  the  Indian  lands,  and  pledged 
the  Indians  to  desist  from  hostilities.  The 
whites  did  not  all  act  in  good  faith,  while  the 
Indians,  with  characteristic  treachery,  failed 
from  the  outset  to  regard  the  treaty.  At  first 
the  Cherokees  contented  themselves  with  oc- 
casional outrages,  but  in  the  year  i  793  it  was 
known  that  the  whole  nation  was  in  arms. 
The  Indians  were  emboldened  by  the  avow- 
edly pacific  policy  of  the  Federal  Government. 
Governor  Blount  had  received  specific  Instruc- 
tions to  act  only  on  the  defensive.     Arson  and 


Knoxville 


459 


murder  were  of  daily  occurrence  and  went  un- 
punished. It  was  with  genuine  relief,  there- 
fore, that  the  whites  received  news,  late  in  the 
summer  of  1 793,  that  the  Indians  had,  in  effect, 
declared  war.      On  the  night   of   the   24th  of 


UNIVERSITY  OF  TENNESSEE. 

September,  i  793,  a  body  of  more  than  a  thou- 
sand warriors  crossed  the  Tennessee  River 
some  twenty-five  miles  below  Knoxville  and 
marched  in  the  direction  of  that  place.  Seven 
hundred  of  this  invading  force  were  Creeks 
and  the  remainder  Cherokees,  and,  strangely 
enouo-h,    one    hundred    of    the    Creeks    were 


460  Knoxville 

mounted.  It  was  the  intention  to  reach  and 
to  attack  Knoxville  at  daylight,  but  they  found 
difficulty  in  crossing  the  river,  and  were  fur- 
ther delayed  by  a  consultation  among  the 
leaders  upon  an  interesting  question.  This 
was  whether  they  should  kill  all  the  people  of 
Knoxville,  or  only  the  men.  The  discussion 
of  this  nice  question  of  casuistry  proved  so 
attractive,  or  provoked  so  many  differences, 
that  daylight  seems  to  have  found  it  still 
unsettled. 

At  sunrise  on  the  25th  the  Indians  heard 
the  mornintr  crun  at  the  barracks  at  Knox- 
ville  and  concluded  that  it  was  an  alarm 
signal.  Halting  near  Cavet's  blockhouse, 
eight  miles  from  the  village,  they  entertained 
themselves  by  decoying  and  butchering  the  in- 
mates. Their  cominof  had  been  made  known 
on  the  24th  to  the  people  of  Knoxville,  who  pre- 
pared with  courage  and  energy  to  resist  them. 
The  total  fiehtine  strencrth  of  the  whites  was 
forty  men.  It  was  determined  to  waylay  the  In- 
dians, and  after  firing  upon  them  to  retreat  to 
the  barracks.  Accordingly,  leaving  two  old  men 
with  the  women  and  children,  the  remaining 
thirty-eight  spent  the  night  concealed  on  a 
wooded  ridge  west  of  the  town,  fearlessly  await- 


Knoxville  461 

Ing  a  foe  outnumbering  them  more  than  twenty 
to  one.  Early  on  the  morning  of  the  25th, 
however,  a  messenger  brought  the  news  that 
the  Indians  had  lost  heart  after  the  affair  at 
Cavet's  and  were  in  full  retreat. 

In  this  little  band  of  defenders  was  the  Rev. 
Samuel  Carrick,  a  Presbyterian  minister,  after- 
wards the  first  President  of  Blount  College,  of 
whose  conduct  on  this  occasion  there  is  a  pleas- 
ing and  honorable  tradition.  It  is  said  that 
when  news  of  the  invasion  came  he  was  prepar- 
ing to  bury  his  wife,  who  had  just  died,  but, 
putting  aside  his  grief,  and  leaving  her  beloved 
remains  to  be  buried  by  the  women  of  the 
neighborhood,  he  seized  his  rifle  and  hastened 
to  take  his  post  at  the  front. 

A  month  later  the  Tennessee  militia,  led  by 
Sevier,  were  in  the  heart  of  the  Indian  coun- 
try, and  the  battle  of  Etowah,  on  the  i  7th  of 
October,  1 793,  ended  the  campaign  and  cowed 
the  savages. 

From  this  time  until  the  Civil  War,  Knox- 
ville was  outside  the  current  of  important  pub- 
lic events.  From  1792  to  1796,  it  was  the 
capital  of  the  "  Territory  South  of  the  River 
Ohio"  ;  from  1796  to  181 1,  except  for  a  little 
while  in  1807,  it  was  the  capital  of  Tennessee. 


4^2  Knoxville 

About  this  time  tiie  capital  of  the  State  be- 
came peripatetic,  on  account  of  the  westward 
trend  of  population.  As  late  as  1834,  we  find 
a  member  of  the  Constitutional  Convention  of 
that  year  introducing  a  resolution  for  the  as- 
certainment of  the  "centre  of  gravity"  of  the 
State,  with  a  view  to  the  permanent  location 
of  the  capital  upon  it.  It  will  be  interesting 
to  know  that  the  official  to  whom  the  question 
was  referred  reported  the  centre  of  gravity  to 
be  identical  with  the  geographical  centre.  The 
capital  was  finally  fixed  at  Nashville,  which  is 
not  on  the  centre  of  gravity,  but  is  otherwise 
fully  entitled  to  the  honor.  Meanwhile,  in 
1 81 7,  the  capital  returned  for  a  brief  stay  at 
Knoxville,  and  then  finally  departed  westward. 
The  Constitutional  Convention  of  i  796  met 
at  Knoxville  in  January  of  that  year  with  Wil- 
liam Blount  as  President,  and  promulgated  the 
first  Constitution  of  Tennessee.  John  Sevier 
was  the  first  Governor  and  took  up  his  abode 
at  Knoxville.  He  besfan  to  build  a  largfe  brick 
house,  but  hospitality  and  every  form  of  liber- 
ality exhausted  his  means  and  he  removed  to 
the  country  before  the  first  story  of  the  house 
had  been  constructed.  The  house  was  com- 
pleted  by    another  owner  and  was   designed 


Knoxville  463 

to  overlook  the  town  from  a  distance.  It 
now  stands  with  its  back  and  one  side  to 
intersecting  modern  streets,  and  its  front  to 
the  side  yard.  Sevier  was  for  eleven  years 
Governor,  and  then  was  elected  to  Congress. 
He  died  in  18 15  while  on  a  journey  to  the 
Creek  nation  as  Commissioner  of  the  United 
States.  His  remains  reposed  in  Alabama  until 
1889,  when  they  were  disinterred,  brought  to 
Knoxville,  and  deposited  in  the  Court-House 
yard,  where  their  final  resting-place  is  marked 
by  a  graceful  shaft  of  native  white  marble. 
Sevier,  always  the  popular  hero  of  Tennessee, 
is  the  most  brilliant  figure  in  the  pioneer 
history  of  the  Southwest. 

Blount  was  one  of  the  first  Senators  from 
Tennessee,  His  impeachment  as  Senator 
upon  charges  which  to  this  day  no  man  fully 
understands  and  which  to  the  Western  people 
seem  to  have  imported  no  turpitude,  did  not 
affect  his  standing  in  Tennessee.  He  is  buried 
in  Knoxville  in  the  old  First  Presbyterian 
churchyard. 

Within  a  few  feet  of  his  grave  is  the  tomb 
of  Hugh  Lawson  White,  son  of  James  White, 
"  the  founder,"  and  known  as  the  "  American 
Cato."     He  was  a  Judge  of  the  Supreme  Court 


464 


Knoxville 


of  Tennessee,  many  years  a  member  of  the 
United  States  Senate,  and  for  a  time  its  Presi- 
dent. He  was  long  the  intimate  friend  of  An- 
drew Jackson,  but  was  aUenated  by  Jackson's 
imperious   methods,  and   became  a   candidate 

for  the  Presi- 
dency of  the 
United  States 
against  Jack- 
son's poHtical 
heir,  Martin  Van 
Buren,  He  was 
defeated,  but 
carried  his  own 
and  two  other 
Southern  States. 
He  was  one  of 
the  stronofest. 
purest  and  most 
patriotic  of 
American  states- 
men, and  was  a  conspicuous  figure  in  the  Sen- 
ate even  in  the  days  of  Webster,  Calhoun,  Clay 
and  Benton.  For  fifteen  years  (from  181 2  to 
1827)  he  was  President  of  the  Bank  of  Ten- 
nessee, located  at  Knoxville,  which  was  almost 
the  only  bank  in  the  South  that  weathered  the 


HUGH   L.   WHITE. 


Knoxville 


465 


financial   storms   which   followed   the  War  of 
1812. 

On  the  western  limit  of  the  town  stands  an 
old  weather-boarded  log  house,  wherein  tradi- 
tion declares  that  George  Farragut,  the  father 
of  the  Admiral,  once  lived.  The  county  rec- 
ords   show    that    , 

George  Farra-  ; 
ofut  owned  the  ! 
ground  on  which 
the  house  is  situ- 
ated. The  great 
Admiral  certain- 
ly was  born  in 
Knox  county  at 
L  o  w's  Ferry 
near  Campbell's 
Station,  where, 
on  the  15th  of 
May,  1900,  Ad- 
miral Dewey  unveiled  a  monument,  which  was 
erected  by  the  Daughters  of  the  American 
Revolution  to  his  illustrious  predecessor.  Old 
deeds  to  George  Farragut  sometimes  call  him 
"  Fairregret,"  but  he  signs  himself  Farragut. 

Sam  Houston  was  reared  near  Knoxville, 
and  there   are  many  stories  of  his  handsome 


ADMIRAL  FARRAGUT. 


466  Knoxvillc 

presence,  winning  manners,  great  abilities  and 
abounding  debts. 

Full  of  interest  to  strangers  is  a  frame 
dwelling  in  East  Knoxville,  standing  flush  with 
the  sidewalk,  and  entered  by  high  steps  that 
encroach  upon  the  pavement.  This  was  the 
home  of  William  G.  Brownlow,  known  as  the 
"  Fighting  Parson,"  one  of  the  most  remark- 
able men  in  the  history  of  Tennessee.  He 
was  a  Methodist  minister,  an  editor  with  a  eift 
of  invective  that  has  never  been  surpassed, 
an  ardent  and  fearless  Unionist,  the  Recon- 
struction Governor  of  Tennessee,  and  finally 
United  States  Senator.  Brownlow  was  a  man 
of  the  Andrew  Jackson  type.  The  Southwest, 
and  especially  Tennessee,  gave  to  public  life 
in  the  first  half  of  this  century  a  class  of  men 
with  distinctive  physical,  intellectual  and  moral 
qualities.  Physically,  they  were  tall,  angular, 
rawboned  ;  intellectually  they  were  alert,  posi- 
tive and  often  narrow ;  they  were  honest  and 
sincerely  patriotic,  but  vindictive  and  unrelent- 
ing, the  truest  of  friends,  the  most  aggressive 
and  dangerous  of  foes.  Jackson,  Brownlow 
and  Isham  G.  Harris  were  men  of  this  kind  ; 
Harris  seemingly  the  last  of  them. 

In  theological  and  political    controversy,  in 


^noxville 


467 


both  of  which  he  dehghted,  Brownlow  neither 
sought  nor  gave  quarter,  and  his  fame  as  a  po- 
lemic went  through  the  Southwest  long  before 
the  Civil  War.     Soon  after  Tennessee  seceded 
he  was  imprisoned,  and  then  released  and  sent 
North,  where  he 
made     many 
characteristic 
speeches,    and 
wrote    a    book 
into     which     he 
gathered  all  the 
bitterness  of  his 
hatred  of  seces- 
sion  and   of  the 
secessionists. 
When  the  Feder- 
al authority  was 
re-established  in 
Tennessee,    it 
was     supported, 
and   its  local    policy  mainly  directed,   by  the 
loyalists    of    East    Tennessee,    among    whom 
Brownlow  was   most   prominent   in    State   af- 
fairs, and  in  national  affairs  Horace  Maynard 
and  Andrew  Johnson.     The  intensity  and  reso- 
lution of  Brownlow's  nature  were  such  that  he 


WILLIAM  Q.   BROWNLOW,  THE    "FIGHTING 
PARSON." 


468  Knoxville 

sometimes  followed  the  logic  of  his  hatred  of 
secession  to  extreme  ends,  so  that  by  the 
Southern  element  in  the  State  he  was  hated  as 
the  Irish  Catholics  hated  Cromwell.  But  his 
conduct,  after  all,  was  in  keeping  with  the  spirit 
of  the  times,  and  not  a  little  of  the  censure 
that  fell  upon  him  was  unjust.  In  private 
affairs,  while  always  forcible  and  positive,  he 
was  a  kindly,  just  and  generous  man,  of  pure 
life  and  of  correct  principles. 

Horace  Maynard,  a  native  of  Massachusetts 
and  a  graduate  of  Amherst,  came  to  Knoxville 
in  1837  and  became  Professor  of  Mathematics 
in  the  University.  Later,  he  was  for  twelve 
years  a  member  of  Congress,  then  Attorney- 
General  of  the  State,  Minister  to  Turkey  and 
Postmaster-General.  His  eminent  abilities 
and  his  pure  character  entitle  him  to  special 
mention  and  to  the  higrhest  commendation. 
His  son.  Commander  Washburn  Maynard,  dis- 
tinguished himself  in  the  late  Spanish  War. 

Another  noteworthy  citizen  of  Knoxville 
was  Thomas  A.  R.  Nelson,  whose  speech  in 
Congress  against  secession  was  praised  by  the 
London  Times  in  the  hiofhest  terms.  Mr.  Nel- 
son  was  of  the  counsel  for  Andrew  Johnson  in 
the  impeachment  trial,  and  was  afterwards  a 


Knoxville  469 

Judge  of  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  State. 
He  was  one  of  the  best  lawyers  and  one  of  the 
most  eloquent  and  accomplished  public  speak- 
ers the  State  has  produced. 

When  the  Civil  War  broke  out,  East  Ten- 
nessee, not  being  a  slaveholding  section,  and 
being  the  Whig  stronghold,  was  overwhelm- 
ingly for  the  Union.  The  Union  leaders 
were  Johnson,  Maynard,  Brownlow  and  many 
others  of  almost  equal  ability.  Knoxville  was 
the  capital  of  East  Tennessee.  It  had  grown 
principally  by  the  increase  of  the  original  pop- 
ulation, and  the  kinships  of  its  people,  espe- 
cially of  the  more  prominent  families,  were 
exceptionally  extensive  and  intricate.  A  ma- 
jority of  these  well-to-do  people  went  with  the 
South,  but  a  large  minority  was  lo)al,  and 
the  common  people,  as  a  rule,  held  to  the 
Union. 

The  first  encounter  of  hostile  forces  at 
Knoxville  was  on  the  20th  of  June,  1863, 
when  Colonel  Saunders  with  a  force  of  fifteen 
hundred  Federal  soldiers  on  a  raid  through 
East  Tennessee,  halted  in  front  of  the  town. 
A  brief  artillery  duel  ensued,  in  the  course  of 
which  Captain  Pleasant  McClungof  Knoxville, 
a  conspicuously  gallant  Confederate  officer,  was 


470  Knoxville 

killed.      After   an    hour's   firing   Saunders  re- 
sumed his  march  without  enterinj^  Knoxville. 

Toward  the  end  of  August,  1863,  the  Con- 
federates evacuated  the  city,  never  to  re-enter 
it,  and  on  the  2d  of  September,  General 
Burnside  entered  and  occupied  it.  The  next 
event  of  importance  was  the  siege.  It  will  be 
remembered  that  after  his  retreat  from  Gettys- 
burg, General  Lee  detached  Longstreet's  corps 
from  his  army  and  sent  it  south  to  aid  Gen- 
eral Bragg.  Longstreet  remained  with  Bragg 
until  November  4th,  when  he  set  out  to  rejoin 
Lee,  marching  overland  through  East  Tennes- 
see and  western  Vircfinia  This  movement 
was  a  serious  menace  to  General  Burnside, 
who  had  at  Knoxville  and  in  its  vicinity 
about  twelve  thousand  men  to  oppose  to 
Longstreet's  twenty  thousand.  Longstreet's 
approach  to  Knoxville,  however,  was  so  de- 
liberate as  to  allow  Burnside  time  to  con- 
centrate his  forces  and  to  fortify  himself 
hastily  but  effectively.  On  the  20th  of 
November,  the  town  was  invested,  but  not 
thoroughly.  The  Confederate  General  was 
not  aware  apparently  that  the  Holston  and 
French  Broad  rivers  came  together  four  miles 
above   Knoxville,  and   contented  himself  with 


Knoxville  47^ 

blockading  the  Holston  above  the  junction, 
leaving  open  the  French  Broad,  by  means 
of  which  supplies  were  constantly  conveyed 
to  the  besieged. 

On  the  29th  of  November,  at  daylight, 
the  Confederates  assaulted  Fort  Saunders, 
on  the  west  of  the  town,  an  almost  im- 
pregnable point  in  its  outer  defences.  The 
attacking  force  consisted  of  three  brigades  of 
Mc Law's  division.  The  attack  was  delivered 
upon  the  northwest  angle  of  the  fort,  probably 
its  strongest  point.  It  was  necessary  for  the 
storming  party,  after  climbing  a  high  hill, 
to  pass  a  difficult  abattis,  and  to  make  its 
way  through  a  labyrinth  of  telegraph  wires 
stretched  between  the  stumps  of  the  original 
forest  trees  which  had  been  felled.  Having 
overcome  these  obstacles,  a  deep  ditch  was 
reached,  beyond  which  rose  the  parapet  of  the 
fort  to  the  height  of  more  than  twenty  feet. 
When  the  broken,  disordered  and  bleeding 
mass  of  Confederates  reached  the  verge  of  the 
ditch  there  was  no  hesitation.  In  the  face  of 
a  deadly  musket  fire  and  of  a  continuous  dis- 
charge of  hand  grenades,  they  hurled  them- 
selves into  the  ditch  and  scrambled  upon 
hands   and  knees   up   the  steep   and  slippery 


472  Knoxville 

embankment.  Three  times  they  succeeded  in 
planting  their  battle-flags  upon  the  parapet, 
and  once  they  entered  the  fort,  but  only  to  be 
killed  or  captured  after  a  desperate  struggle. 
The  assault  failed.  Three  hundred  Confeder- 
ates were  captured,  and  from  five  to  seven 
hundred  dead  and  wounded  lay  before  the 
abattis,  among  the  broken  wires  and  in  the 
ditch. 

This  attack  upon  Fort  Saunders  was  one  of 
the  most  gallant  and  desperate  encounters  of 
the  whole  M'ar,  and  if  it  had  occurred  upon 
a  more  conspicuous  field  would  have  been 
ranked  with  Pickett's  charge  at  Gettysburg. 

General  Longstreet  now  concluded  to  molest 
Burnside  no  more,  and  leisurely  retired  to  Vir- 
ginia. Grant  sent  twenty  thousand  men  to  re- 
inforce Burnside,  but  Longstreet  had  already 
withdrawn. 

Immediately  after  the  war  Knoxville  began 
to  increase  rapidly  in  population.  The  loyalty 
of  East  Tennessee  won  much  favor  for  it  at 
the  North,  and  many  desirable  additions  to 
the  population  of  Knoxville  came  from  that 
section. 

It  is  probable  that  no  city  in  the  South  con- 
tains   so    large    a    proportion    of    citizens    of 


474  Knoxville 

Northern  and  Western  birth.  Of  foreij^n- 
born  citizens  there  are  comparatively  few,  the 
tides  of  immigration  having  flowed  always 
north  of  Mason  and  Dixon's  line.  Knox- 
ville is  therefore  a  thoroughly  American  city, 
of  forty  thousand  population,  free  from  sec- 
tional sentiment,  progressive,  but  withal  con- 
servative, and  proud  of  its  deserved  reputation 
as  a  center  of  education  and  of  culture. 

Its  free  schools,  handsomely  and  commodi- 
ously  housed,  are  most  liberally  supported, 
while  the  State  University  is  the  pride  of  the 
intelligent  people  of  Tennessee.  The  State 
Deaf  and  Dumb  School  and  a  branch  of  the 
Asylum  for  the  Insane  are  located  there,  and 
Knoxville  College  for  the  education  of  negroes 
is  one  of  the  best  of  its  kind. 

Knoxville  contributed  a  handsome  building 
to  the  "  White  City  "  of  the  Nashville  Centen- 
nial, and  afterwards  the  women  of  the  city  se- 
cured the  removal  of  the  building  to  Knoxville, 
where,  at  a  point  of  vantage,  it  was  re-erected 
and  dedicated  to  the  cause  of  woman's  advance- 
ment and  to  all  the  Muses. 

Knoxville  is  an  old  town  as  things  go  in 
America,  yet  much  of  it  is  new.  Its  population 
has  increased  tenfold  within  thirty-five  years. 


Knoxville 


475 


It  is  therefore,  in  the  main,  modern  m  con- 
struction. In  proportion  to  population  it  has 
by  far  the  largest  wholesale  trade  among  the 
Southern  cities.  It  enjoys  a  high  degree  o 
prosperity.  It  is  the  industrial,  commercial 
and  educational  center  of  East  Tennessee,  and 
its  future  is  full  of  promise. 


NASHVILLE 

"THE   ADVANCE-GUARD   OF   WESTERN    CIV- 
ILIZATION." 

By  gates  p.  THRUSTON 

THE  beautiful  site  upon  which  the  city  of 
Nashville  stands  must  have  been  famous 
in  prehistoric  times.  Its  natural  salt  spring 
near  the  bank  of  the  Cumberland  River  was 
a  noted  resort  of  the  Indian  and  buffalo. 
Some  years  ago,  the  huge  bones  of  a  mastodon 
were  exhumed  from  the  alluvial  deposit  upon 
its  margin.  Near  the  flowing  spring  was  an 
ancient  cemetery  of  the  long-vanished  Stone 
Grave  race,  the  mound-builders,  of  Tennessee, 
and  upon  the  opposite  bank  of  the  river  and 
in  the  adjacent  valleys  have  been  found  not 
less  than  ten  thousand  rude  stone  cists  con- 
taining their  mortuary  remains.  These  inter- 
esting memorials  have  yielded  a  vast  store  of 
archaeological  treasures,  illustrating  their  arts 

477 


478  Nashville 

and  industries  and  telling  a  pathetic  story  of 
aboriginal  life  in  the  valley  of  the  Cumber- 
land. 

A  race  of  Village  Indians,  probably  akin  to 
the  Pueblo  Builders  or  Village  Indians  of  New 
Mexico  and  Arizona,  once  made  their  home  in 
Middle  Tennessee  and  the  adjacent  territory. 
These  industrious  pottery  makers  and  mound 
builders  must  have  dwelt  for  several  centuries 
in  this  lovely  Garden  of  Eden. 

In  an  evil  hour,  unhappily,  some  destroyer 
came,  perhaps  the  ancestors  of  the  savage  and 
vindictive  Mohawk  or  Iroquois  Indians  of  the 
north,  and  devastated  their  towns  and  homes 
and  scattered  or  exterminated  the  humble 
and  less  warlike  Villagers.  The  first  white 
hunters  and  pioneers  discovered  in  the  shad- 
owy forest  only  their  strange  and  mysterious 
mounds,  and  the  ancient  lines  of  earthworks 
that  had  formed  their  forts. 

For  perhaps  a  hundred  years  or  more  before 
the  advent  of  the  white  man,  the  beautiful  val- 
ley of  the  Cumberland  seems  to  have  been  a 
wilderness  uninhabited  save  by  the  wild  animals 
of  the  forest. 

As  early  as  1714,  M.  Charleville,  a  French 
trader,  came,  and  tarried  for  a  time  near  the 


Nashville  479 

salt  spring,  known  thereafter  as  the  French 
Lick.  In  1775,  Timothy  De  Monbreun,  a 
native  of  France,  visited  the  spring,  and  later 
settled  near  the  site  of  Nashville.  Occasion- 
ally adventurous  hunters  and  trappers  passed 
down  the  valley.  In  1778,  a  man  of  singular 
courage  and  gigantic  stature  named  Spencer 
came  with  a  party  from  Kentucky  in  search  of 
homes  and  fortune,  and  settled  near  Bledsoe's 
Lick,  north  of  the  Cumberland.  They  planted 
a  small  field  of  corn.  Spencer's  companions 
soon  became  discouraged  and  returned  to 
Kentucky,  but  this  self-reliant  hunter,  undis- 
mayed by  the  solitude  of  the  wilderness  and  the 
fear  of  the  crafty  Cherokee,  refused  to  leave 
his  new  home  in  the  lonely  forest,  and  passed 
the  long  winter  there,  with  only  a  great  hollow 
sycamore  tree  as  a  shelter. 

The  story  of  the  founding  of  Nashville  is 
full  of  heroic  incidents.  It  reads  like  a  ro- 
mance. About  ten  years  had  elapsed  since 
the  stout-hearted  pioneers  of  Virginia  and  the 
Carolinas  had  pushed  their  way  westward 
through  the  blue  ridges  of  the  AUeghanies,  and 
planted  an  independent  colony  upon  the  banks 
of  the  Watauga  River.  Its  master  spirits, 
John  Sevier,  James  Robertson  and  Isaac  and 


48o  Nashville 

Evan  Shelby  would  have  been  men  of  mark  in 
any  community. 

From  this  parent  hive,  already  grown  into  a 
strong  and  prosperous  settlement,  a  new  colony 
of  two  hundred  and  more  hardy  riflemen  and 
pioneers,  in  the  fall  of  1779,  ^^t  out  upon  a  far 
journey  to  the  west,  under  the  leadership  of 
James  Robertson. 

Allured  by  the  wonderful  stories  of  the 
beauty  and  fertility  of  the  Cumberland  Val- 
ley, they  determined  to  seek  there  new  homes. 
It  was  an  heroic  venture,  unsurpassed  in 
the  history  of  the  march  of  western  civili- 
zation. No  military  force  blazed  a  way  for 
them.  High  mountain  ranges,  deep  and  un- 
known rivers,  hundreds  of  miles  of  dense 
forest,  lay  before  them.  The  dread  of  the 
crafty  savage,  upon  whose  hunting-grounds 
they  were  encroaching,  did  not  deter  them. 

Bidding  farewell  to  their  friends  at  Wataucra 
they  struck  out  upon  the  wilderness  trail  of 
Daniel  Boone  for  the  Far  West.  They  passed 
through  the  gap  in  the  Cumberland  Moun- 
tains, across  the  headwaters  of  the  Cumber- 
land River,  and  still  westward  across  the  rivers 
and  valleys  of  Central  and  Southern  Kentucky, 
until,  after  weary  weeks  of  marching,  through 


Nashville 


481 


storm  and  snow  and  ice,  they  finally  reached 
the  old  French   Lick  on  Christmas  Day,  1779. 


JAMES  ROBERTSON. 


The  wives  and  families  of  this  advance- 
guard  of  the  frontier,  unable  to  endure  the 
hardships  of  the  march,  were  sent  in  boats  and 


482  Nashville 

canoes  down  the  Holston  and  Tennessee  riv- 
ers. Captain  John  Donelson  was  in  command, 
a  man  of  rare  courage  and  judgment.  His 
handsome  young  daughter,  Rachel,  one  of 
the  voyagers,  afterwards  became  mistress  of 
the  White  House  as  the  wife  of  President 
Jackson. 

They  left  Fort  Patrick  Henry  on  the  Hol- 
ston River,  December  27,  1779.  The  distance 
by  water  around  the  long,  winding  circuit  of 
the  Holston,  the  Tennessee,  the  Ohio  and  the 
Cumberland  up  to  the  Cumberland  Bluffs  was 
more  than  a  thousand  miles.  Captain  Donel- 
son's  interesting  journal,  kept  during  the  four- 
months'  journey  and  still  preserved  among 
the  treasures  of  the  Tennessee  Historical  Soci- 
ety, recounts  in  plain  and  modest  words  a 
story  of  heroism,  of  thrilling  adventures,  of 
singular  pathos,  scarcely  equaled  in  the  annals 
of  our  American  frontier.  It  was  a  midwinter 
journey.  The  voyagers  were  attacked  by 
the  savage  Chickamauga  Indians.  Their  frail 
boats  were  swept  through  unknown  rapids 
and  floods.  They  had  to  force  their  way  up 
the  Ohio  and  Cumberland  rivers.  Many  of  the 
party  perished,  some  were  shot  down  by  the 
Indians,    others    were    wounded   and   ill;    but 


Nashville 


483 


with  thankful  hearts  the  survivors  finally 
reached  their  anxious  friends  at  the  "  Big 
Salt  Lick "  on  the  Cumberland,  April  24, 
1780.  It  was  a  joyful  meeting,  a  reunion 
of  happy  families,  long  remembered  in  the 
settlement. 


THE  FIRST  RESIDENCE  OF  ANDREW  JACKSON. 


The  commanding  bluff  on  the  south  side  of 
the  river  seemed  an  ideal  home  for  the  new 
colony,  united,  hopeful  and  enthusiastic.  The 
rich  valley  and  the  winding  river  added 
beauty  to  the  landscape.  Ranges  of  noble 
and  picturesque  hills,  not  far  distant,  sur- 
rounded the  site.  The  land  was  fertile. 
Springs  of  pure  water  abounded,  and  here  in 


4^4  Nashville 

the  far  western  wilderness  was  planted  the  new 
germ  of  civilization,  which  in  after  years  was  to 
grow  and  blossom  into  rich  fruition.  In  honor 
of  General  Nash,  of  North  Carolina,  a  dis- 
tinguished officer  of  the  Revolution,  the  vil- 
lage was  christened  Nashboroueh. 

And  now  the  cheery  sound  of  the  woodman's 
axe  rancr  out  in  the  forest.  Cabins  were  built. 
The  land  was  cleared  and  crops  were  planted. 
Log  forts  were  erected,  planned  after  the  good 
model  of  the  fort  at  Watauo^a  that  had  saved 
the  precious  lives  of  the  little  parent  colony 
from  the  assaults  of  the  Cherokees. 

A  regiment  of  riflemen  was  formed,  with 
James  Robertson  as  Colonel  and  John  Donel- 
son  as  Lieutenant-Colonel.  An  independent 
civil  orovernment  was  orranized  and  established. 

o  o 

This  isolated  little  settlement  was  rightly  called 
by  James  Robertson  "  The  advance-guard  of 
western  civilization."  It  was  six  or  seven  hun- 
dred miles  from  the  nearest  established  gov- 
ernment. It  was  over  three  hundred  miles 
from  the  Watauga,  and  nearly  as  far  from  the 
Kentucky  settlements,  yet  law,  order  and  jus- 
tice prevailed. 

The  carefully  drawn  articles  of  the  compact 
under  which  the  local   civil  government  was 


Nashville  485 

org-anized,  indicate  the  high  character  of  its 
citizens.  They  bore  the  impress  of  the  true 
Anglo-Saxon  spirit,  —  the  love  of  order  and 
equity.  They  required  strict  obedience  to  the 
will  of  the  majority.  Invoking  the  blessing  of 
Divine  Providence,  the  compact  set  up  in  the 
wilderness  a  temple  of  justice  that  secured 
ample  legal  pro-  ;j^-^^  -    ,^ 

tection  to  the 
citizen  and  the 
stranger,  until 
the  lawful  juris- 
diction of  the 
parent  State  of 
North  Carolina         ' .  „-^^--'- 

could  be  extend- 
ed over  the  new  port  ridley,  an  old  nashville 
territory.  blockhouse. 

James  Robertson,  the  well-recognized  leader 
of  the  settlement,  was  not  blessed  with  the 
genius  and  natural  gifts  of  John  Sevier,  the 
soldier  and  statesman  of  the  eastern  section, 
but  he  was  a  born  ruler  and  organizer,  a  man 
full  of  resources,  of  lofty  personal  character  and 
purposes.  Well  might  he  be  called  the  founder 
and  father  of  Nashville.  His  life  is  an  epitome 
of  the  early  history  of  Middle  Tennessee. 


fi^?^^*.-» 


486  Nashville 

Dr.  Ramsey,  the  historian  of  Tennessee, 
tells  us  that  when  the  treaty  was  made  with 
the  Indians  at  Watauga,  giving^  the  whites 
the  right  to  possess  the  rich  hunting-grounds 
of  Middle  Tennessee  and  Kentucky,  the  aged 
Indian  chief  Oconostota  took  Daniel  Boone 
by  the  hand,  and  remarked  with  significant 
earnestness  :  "  Brother,  we  have  given  you  a 
fine  land,  but  I  believe  you  will  have  much 
trouble  in  settling  it."  How  prophetic  were 
these  words  !  The  brave  little  colony  upon 
the  bluffs  at  Nashborough,  with  settlements 
stretching  for  many  miles  along  the  valley  of 
the  Cumberland,  was  destined  to  pass  through 
years  of  peril  and  anxiety.  The  young  war- 
riors of  the  Cherokees  and  Creeks  were  not 
willing  to  confirm  the  surrender  of  their  favor- 
ite hunting-grounds  to  the  insatiate  and  land- 
hungry  paleface.  Their  footprints  were  soon 
discovered  in  the  forest.  The  settlers  were 
ambushed  near  their  homes,  and  were  shot 
down  by  unseen  foes  as  they  drank  at  the 
springs.  Horses  and  cattle  were  stampeded 
and  stolen.  The  strong-est  forts  were  attacked. 
At  times  the  dangers  and  discouragements 
were  so  great  that  it  seemed  as  if  this  vanguard 
settlement,   with   all    its   hopes   and   promises, 


Nashville  487 

must  be  abandoned.  A  number  of  the  settlers 
yielded  to  their  fears,  and  returned  with  their 
families  to  Kentucky  or  to  their  old  homes  in 
the  East.  In  those  dark  days  the  exalted 
character  of  James  Robertson  stood  out  in 
noble  relief.  He  resolutely  stemmed  the  tide 
of  apprehension.  He  would  not  discuss  a 
retreat.  He  was  the  very  life  and  mainstay  of 
the  settlement.  "  These  rich  and  beautiful 
lands,"  Robertson  said,  "  were  not  designed  to 
be  given  up  to  savages  and  wild  beasts.  The 
God  of  Creation  and  Providence  has  nobler 
purposes  in  view."  "  Each  one  should  do  what 
seems  to  him  his  duty.  As  for  myself,  my 
station  is  here,  and  here  I  shall  stay  if  every 
man  of  you  deserts." 

Solitary  and  alone,  and  apparently  unmind- 
ful of  danger,  Robertson  made  long  journeys 
through  the  forest  to  confer  with  the  Chero- 
kee chiefs  in  the  interest  of  peace.  When 
the  ammunition  at  the  forts  was  exhausted, 
and  an  attack  was  threatened,  he  set  out  in 
midwinter  upon  a  lonely  trail  through  the  wil- 
derness for  the  Kentucky  settlements,  and 
never  rested  until  he  had  returned  to  Free- 
land  Station  with  an  ample  supply. 

His  return  was  none  too  soon.     That  very 


488  Nashville 

nieht,  at  the  dead  hour  of  midniLrht,  a  band  of 
savag^e  Chickasaws  attacked  Freeland  Station. 
The  moon  was  shining  brightly,  but  the)-  crept 
up  noiselessly  through  the  shadows  to  the 
very  gates  of  the  fort.  They  finally  unlocked 
its  bars  and  were  pushing  through  the  opening, 
when  the  quick  ear  of  Robertson,  who  was 
sleeping  near  by,  caught  the  sound  of  danger. 
He  shouted  a  cry  of  alarm.  A  shot  from  his 
rifle  rangf  out  on  the  still  niofht  air.  His  com- 
rades  within  the  fort  grasped  their  guns  and 
fired  from  every  cabin  door.  It  was  a  sharp 
contest,  but  the  Indians  were  finally  routed 
and  driven  from  the  fort. 

In  the  early  spring  they  attacked  the  station 
at  Nashborout^h  in  almost  overvvhelmino-  num- 
bers.  They  forced  their  way  nearly  to  the 
gates  of  the  old  fort,  located  near  the  present 
corner  of  Market  and  Church  streets,  inter- 
cepting the  retreat  of  many  of  the  settlers. 
There  was  a  desperate  struggle  for  possession 
of  the  fort.  At  an  opportune  moment,  the 
pack  of  powerful  watch-dogs  and  hounds  in 
the  fort  was  turned  loose,  attacked  the  In- 
dians fiercely,  and  greatly  aided  in  repelling 
the  onslaught.  Both  sides  lost  heavily,  but 
the  fort  and  settlement  were  saved. 


Nashville 


489 


For  lone  and  anxious  years  the  settlements 

upon  the  Cumberland  River  were  in  constant 

warfare  and  danger.      There  was  no  period  of 

peace  or  repose,  yet  year  by  year  the  restless 

march  of  the  western  pioneers  and    "  movers  " 

continued.     The 

colony    grew    in 

strength     and 

numbers,  and  at 

the   end    of   the 

first  decade  of  its 

history,     several 

thousand  thrifty 

and    prosperous 

settlers  occupied 

the  fertile  terri- 
tory along  the 
valley. 

The  village  of 
N  ashborough 
had  become  the  ambitious  town  of  Nashville. 
North  Carolina  had  taken  the  settlements  under 
her  motherly  protection.  A  court-house  and 
prison  had  been  erected.  Davidson  Academy, 
that  later  grew  into  Nashville  University,  had 
been  chartered  and  endowed.  In  1788,  An- 
drew  Jackson,   a  young   lawyer   unknown   to 


ANDREW  JACKSON. 


490  Nashville 

fame,  came  to  the  town  bearing  a  commission 
from  the  Governor  of  North  Carolina  as  at- 
torney of  the  Mero  District.  Colonel  James 
Robertson  was  appointed  a  Brigadier-General. 
Tennessee  was  organized  into  a  State  and 
admitted  into  the  Union  in  1796. 

From  its  infancy  as  a  village,  Nashville  has 
been  something  of  a  historic  center.  It  has 
been  the  home  of  a  number  of  men  of  national 
reputation.  Under  the  leadership  of  Generals 
Jackson  and  Coffee,  the  gallant  Tennessee 
troops  who  helped  to  win  the  famous  victory 
at  New  Orleans  assembled  at  Nashville. 

One  of  the  happy  events  in  the  early  life  of 
the  city,  still  treasured  in  our  local  histories, 
was  the  visit  of  General  Lafayette  in  1825. 
He  was  received  and  entertained  with  joyful 
demonstrations  of  affection,  and  it  is  said  that 
he  lonor  remembered  and  often  recalled  with 
pleasure  the  cordiality  of  his  reception. 

Nashville  has  been  the  arena  of  many  hotly 
contested  political  battles.  The  eloquence  of 
Sargeant  Prentiss,  of  Henry  Clay,  of  Meredith 
P.  Gentry,  of  Haskell  and  the  old-time  orators 
is  still  remembered.  The  city  was  the  home 
of  Felix  Grundy,  of  Thomas  H.  Benton,  later 
the  famous  Missouri  Senator,  of  General  Sam 


Nashville 


491 


Houston,  the  hero  of  San  Jacinto,  and  of  John 
Bell.  The  historic  and  hospitable  mansion  of 
President  Andrew  Jackson  at  the  Hermitage, 
a  few  miles  east  of  Nashville,  in  those  early- 
days,  as  now  was  the  Mecca  of  many  pilgrim- 
ages.     Visitors  are   always  charmed  with  the 


THE  HERMITAGE  MANSION,  RESIDENCE  OF  ANDREW  JACKSON. 

beauty  of  the  surrounding  country.  A  pictu- 
resque avenue  lined  with  overshadowing  cedars 
leads  to  the  house.  Its  stately  pillars  and 
broad  porch  remind  us  of  an  old  Virginia 
homestead. 

Here     the     hero     and    his     beloved    wife, 
Rachel    Donelson,    lived    many  happy  years, 


49-  Nashville 

and  entertained  their  friends  and  neighbors 
with  generous  hospitality.  Here  Aaron  Burr 
was  a  welcome  visitor,  before  he  was  suspected 
of  treasonable  purposes,  and  Lafayette,  James 
Monroe  and  Martin  Van  Buren  were  honored 
guests.  In  a  field  adjoining  the  mansion,  two 
hundred  or  more  friends  and  neighbors  were 
entertained  at  a  dinner  eiven  in  honor  of  the 
election  of  James  K.  Polk  as  President. 

Like  the  home  of  Washington  at  Mt,  Ver- 
non, the  residence  at  the  Hermitage  was  a  ver- 
itable museum  of  souvenirs,  arranged  and 
treasured  by  Mrs.  Jackson  and  her  adopted 
daughter.  The  walls  were  adorned  with  fam- 
ily and  historic  portraits,  the  work  of  noted 
artists. 

Near  by,  in  a  corner  of  the  garden  of  the 
Hermitage,  the  remains  of  President  Jackson 
and  his  dear  wife  lie  side  by  side,  under  a 
modest  but  beautiful  marble  tomb,  prepared 
by  him  for  their  reception.  In  his  later  years 
the  old  General  rarely  exhibited  the  sterner 
side  of  his  nature.  He  was  mild  and  courtly 
in  manner.  His  kindness  was  proverbial 
among  his  neighbors.  He  became  deeply  in- 
terested in  religion.  To  please  his  devoted 
wife,  he  had  a  modest  chapel  erected  near  their 


Nashville 


493 


home,  and  they  were  faithful  attendants  at  all 
relio^ious  meetinors  held  there. 

By  an  act  of  the  Legislature  of  Tennessee, 


JAMES  K.   POLK. 


the  Ladies'  Hermitage  Association,  a  society 
of  patriotic  ladies  of  Nashville,  has  charge  of 
the  Hermitage,  its  mansion  and  surroundings, 


494  Nashville 

and  through  their  untiring  devotion  the  his- 
toric old  home  and  its  many  treasures  are  well 
preserved  and  cared  for. 

The  residence  of  President  James  K.  Polk 
still  stands  upon  an  elevated  site  in  the  center 
of  the  city  of  Nashville.  It  was  a  stately 
dwelling  in  its  day,  worthy  to  be  the  home  of 
a  President.  His  remains  were  deposited  in 
a  tomb  of  noble  proportions  erected  in  front 
of  the  mansion,  but  some  years  ago,  by  an  act 
of  the  Legislature,  they  were  removed  to  the 
grounds  of  the  State  Capitol. 

The  revered  widow  of  President  Polk  sur- 
vived him  many  years,  and  the  old  home  and 
her  gracious  welcome  added  a  charm  to  the 
social  life  of  the  city  and  attracted  visitors 
from  near  and  far. 

It  was  not  until  the  year  1843  that  Nash- 
ville became  the  seat  of  government  of  the 
State  of  Tennessee.  The  city  presented  to  the 
State  the  splendid  grounds  upon  which  its  beau- 
tiful capitol  building  stands.  The  famed  Acrop- 
olis at  Athens  did  not  afford  a  nobler  site  for 
its  temples.  The  traveler  can  see  it  from  afar, 
and  from  the  broad  porticos  of  the  State  House 
one  can  survey  the  winding  Cumberland  and 
the  varied  beauties  of  the  surrounding  hills. 


Nashville 


495 


Nashville  continued  to  grow  in  importance 
and  prosperity  year  by  year,  until  the  shadows 
of  the  ereat  conflict  between  the  States  clouded 


TOMB  OF  JAMES  K.    POLK,   NASHVILLE. 

its  happy  life.  The  hearts  of  the  people  were 
mainly  in  sympathy  with  the  Southern  cause. 
True  to  the  history  of  the  Volunteer  State, 


40  Nashville 

its  young  men  enlisted  in  the  army,  and  its 
devoted  women  nursed  the  wounded  in  the 
hospitals. 

Unhappily,  Fort  Donelson  soon  fell  ;  the 
Federal  gunboats  steamed  up  the  river  ;  Gen- 
eral Buell  and  his  troops  appeared  on  the  north 
bank  of  the  Cumberland,  and  in  February, 
1862,  the  proud  city  was  forced  to  surrender  to 
the  Union  army. 

Nashville  became  a  vast  military  camp.  Fed- 
eral brigades  and  divisions  marched  through 
its  streets  and  camped  in  the  beautiful  wood- 
land parks  about  the  city.  A  cordon  of  elabo- 
rate forts  and  earthworks  was  built  along  the 
chain  of  suburban  hills  to  the  south  and  west. 
An  imposing  fortress  soon  encircled  the  stately 
Capitol  building,  in  the  very  heart  of  the  city, 
and  towered  threateningly  above  the  homes  of 
its  people.  Its  battlements  and  sharp  angles, 
the  very  porticos  of  the  Capitol,  bristled 
with  cannon.  It  became  the  central  citadel  of 
Federal  defence.  The  fierce  cannonade  that 
announced  the  bloody  battle  at  jMurfreesboro, 
thirty  miles  away,  could  almost  be  heard  by  the 
anxious  mothers  and  friends  within  the  walls 
at  Nashville. 

General  N.  B.  Forrest,  with  his  cavalry  force, 


Nashville 


497 


came  and  threatened  the  city  for  a  time,  but 
made  no  serious  attack.  Later,  General  Hood 
marched  up  from  the  south  with  a  splendid 
army,  reviving  the  hopes  of  the  Confederates 


THE  STATE  HOUSE. 


in  Nashville  ;  but  the  fatal  disaster  at  Franklin, 
and  the  overwhelming  defeat  of  the  Confed- 
erates by  General  Thomas  on  the  hills  south  of 
the  city,  shattered  all  hope,  and  left  the  Union 
forces  in  possession  of  the  coveted  prize  until 
the  close  of  the  war. 


498  Nashville 

Ah  !  those  were  days  that  tore  the  heart- 
strines.  East  Tennessee  had  cast  its  affections 
and  strenfjth  with  the  North,  and  remained 
lo)al  to  the  Union,  Each  section  of  the  State 
had  followed  its  convictions  as  to  the  right, 
and  Tennessee  may  well  be  proud  of  her  sons 
who  fouQfht  on  either  side.  Nashville  was  the 
home  of  gallant  Frank  Cheatham,  of  General 
William  H.  Jackson,  General  William  B.  Bate, 
General  Rains,  General  Maney  and  a  host 
of  other  Confederates  who  won  honor  and 
distinction  in  the  Southern  cause.  Buell, 
Rosecrans,  Thomas,  Sherman,  Grant,  distin- 
guished generals  on  the  Federal  side,  had  all 
held  command  there. 

Happily,  peace  came  at  last,  and  the  long- 
beleaguered  city  breathed  more  freely.  The 
remains  of  the  Confederates  who  fell  in  the 
battles  about  Nashville  were  lovingly  gathered 
into  the  beautiful  grounds  of  the  "  Confederate 
Circle"  at  Mt.  Olivet.  The  Federals  sleep 
peacefully  in  the  National  Cemetery  not  far 
away,  under  the  kindly  care  of  the  government. 

Soon  the  wheels  of  industry  began  to  re- 
volve. New  life  and  prosperity  came.  The 
heart  of  Cornelius  Vanderbilt  was  warmed 
toward  the  desolated  South,  and  a  noble  insti- 


500  Nashville 

tution  of  learning-  was  endowed  in  his  name. 
The  Trustees  of  George  Peabody  came  to  the 
rescue  also,  and  founded  the  Peabody  Normal 
College.  The  Jubilee  Singers  of  Nashville 
sang  Fisk  University  into  life,  and  endowed  a 
useful  institution  dedicated  to  the  education  of 
the  colored  race  recently  freed  from  slavery. 

A  new  Nashville  has  adjusted  itself  to  the 
changed  order  of  things  in  the  South,  and  is 
assuming  the  appearance  and  proportions  of  a 
metropolis.  Its  borders  have  extended  to  the 
picturesque  hills  that  circle  the  city.  Its  fame 
as  an  educational  center  perhaps  more  than 
rivals  its  importance  in  commerce  and  manu- 
factures. More  than  five  thousand  students 
from  other  sections  of  the  country  are  included 
in  its  scholastic  population,  and  within  the  city 
limits  there  are  not  less  than  eighty  schools 
and  colleges  —  schools  of  theology,  law,  medi- 
cine, pharmacy,  music  and  art.  They  are  the 
glory  of  Nashville. 

The  throng  of  teachers  and  students  help  to 
give  it  the  charm  of  a  literary  and  intellectual 
atmosphere.  Right  justly  may  it  be  called  the 
"Athens  of  the  South."  Vanderbilt  Univer- 
sity and  Peabody  Normal  College,  with  their 
beautiful  parks  and  clusters  of  fine  buildings. 


Nashville 


501 


are   institutions   of  which   any   city  might  be 

proud. 

In  1880,  Nashville  celebrated  its  Centennial 
in  honor  of  the  founding  of  the  city.      It  was 
an   inspiring  occasion,  but  the   Centennial  of 
the  State  of  Tennessee,  celebrated  at  the  capi- 
tal in  1896-97,  crowned  the  city  with  laurels 
that  will  long  be  remembered  with  honorable 
pride.     It  was  a  revelation,— a  noble  memorial 
of   a  century  of   statehood.      The    dream    of 
James   Robertson,   the  father  and  founder   of 
Nashville,  was  more  than  realized.      In  a  little 
more  than  a  century  of  progress,  the  camp  of 
the    brave    little  colony   on  the  bank  of   the 
Cumberland  had  grown  into  a  splendid  South- 
ern city. 


LOUISVILLE 

THE   GATEWAY   CITY   TO  THE   SOUTH 
By  LUCIEN  V.  RULE 

BEAUTIFUL  of  situation  is  Louisville, 
the  metropolis  of  Kentucky,  and  the 
Gateway  City  to  the  South.  Builded  along 
the  Ohio  at  the  Falls,  the  river  stretches 
away  to  the  northeast  in  a  sheet  of  water 
nearly  a  mile  wide  and  six  miles  in  extent  with 
a  scarcely  perceptible  current,  making  one  of 
the  finest  harbors  in  the  whole  course  of  this 
"  Rhine  of  America."  Circling  hills  surround 
the  city,  and  the  parks  upon  them  are  unsur- 
passed in  this  section  of  the  country.  The 
avenues  are  broad  and  well  shaded,  and  while 
the  residences  are,  as  a  rule,  handsomely  mod- 
ern, many  splendid  specimens  of  Colonial  archi- 
tecture are  to  be  seen.  The  homesteads  in  the 
suburbs  are  delightful,  dreamy  retreats,  and  the 
river  valley  is  as  fertile  as  that  of  the  Jordan. 

503 


504  Louisville 

As  the  visitor  approaches  over  any  one  of 
the  railroads  leadintr  into  Louisville  and  looks 
upon  the  charming  scene  just  outlined,  he 
may  recall  the  historic  associations  connected 
with  it.  Here,  in  the  long  ago,  Daniel  Boone 
loved  to  linger  and  hunt.  It  was  here  that 
George  Rogers  Clark,  the  famous  Indian 
ficrhter  and  leader  of  western  civilization,  first 
won  renown.  Here  John  Fitch  studied  the 
problem  of  steamboat  navigation,  anticipating 
Robert  Fulton  many  years,  and  so  far  suc- 
ceeded that  Fulton  acknowledged  him  the 
original  inventor  of  steam  craft.  Here  the 
fathers  of  ornithology  in  the  new  world,  Alex- 
ander Wilson  and  John  J.  Audubon,  resided 
and  labored,  the  latter  first  awaking  to  a 
realization  of  his  marvellous  genius  in  the  Ken- 
tucky wilds.  In  this  vicinity  Zachary  Taylor 
spent  his  childhood,  learned  the  art  of  war, 
and  returned  at  intervals  of  peace  to  reside, 
after  achieving  notable  triumphs  for  the 
Republic  on  the  hard-fought  fields  of  Mexico 
and  elsewhere.  It  was  here  that  George 
Keats,  favorite  brother  of  the  poet,  John 
Keats,  came  to  live,  bringing  with  him  from 
old  England  an  atmosphere  of  classic  culture 
and  refinement  which  influenced  the  develop- 


Louisville 


505 


ment  of  intellectual  Louisville.  It  was  here, 
also,  that  Henry  Clay  often  came  to  confer 
with  his  political  colleagues,  and  to  charm  the 
people  with  his  superb  oratory.  Here  George 
D.  Prentice,  whose  witty,  trenchant  paragraphs 
on  the  edito- 
rial page  of 
The  Louisville 
y ournal  vi\2.di^ 
it  the  most 
widely  quoted 
American  pa- 
per in  foreign 
realms,  wield- 
ed his  wonder- 
ful influence 
as  the  cham- 
pion of  the 
ofreat  Pacifi- 
cator  of  Ash- 
land. Near 
this  city  General  Robert  Anderson,  the  fearless 
hero  of  Fort  Sumter  in  1861,  was  reared,  and 
hither  he  returned  after  its  surrender  and  re- 
ceived the  welcome  plaudits  of  all  parties  for  his 
memorable  loyalty  to  the  Stars  and  Stripes.  In 
this  city  many  of  the  ablest  Federal  command- 


QEO.   D.   PRENTICE. 

FROM    AN    OLD    PAINTING    OWNED    BY    THE    POLYTECHNIC 
SOCIETY    OF    KENTUCKY. 


5o6  Louisville 

ers  first  came  into  national  notice  duringr  the 
Civil  War  ;  and  here  resides  now  Henry  Wat- 
terson,  whose  patriotic  pen  and  eloquent  lips  in 
recent  years  have  dispelled  the  last  feeling^  oi 
prejudice  between  the  once  estranged  sections 
of  the  Union,  and  who,  speaking  for  his  fellow- 
citizens,  cordially  received  the  Grand  Army  of 
the  Republic  into  the  South  on  their  first  visit 
since  they  left  its  soil  as  conquerors. 

In  the  evolution  of  nations  struggle  is  un- 
avoidable, but  higher  results  ensue  :  and  it  is 
the  peculiar  pride  of  the  State  of  Kentucky 
that  though  Lincoln  and  Davis,  the  two  leaders 
of  the  Federal  and  Confederate  governments 
while  the  fate  of  the  Union  was  being  decided 
on  the  bloody  field,  were  her  sons,  neverthe- 
less her  conservatism,  wise  counsel  and  gentle 
forbearance  —  beginning  in  the  speeches  of 
Henry  Clay  long  previous  to  the  late  unpleas- 
antness, and  continuing  in  the  admirable  efforts 
of  Henry  Watterson  afterward  —  indicated 
the  path  to  peace  and  prosperity.  The  motto 
of  the  Republic  is  "  Many  in  one "  ;  that  of 
Kentucky,"  United  we  stand,  divided  we  fall  "  ; 
and  it  has  been  the  mission  of  our  State  to 
emphasize  the  vital  political  truth  that  many 
commonwealths  with  widely  diverse  institutions. 


Louisville  507 

may  safely  unite  in  the  formation  of  one  strong 
central  government  ;  that  a  multiplicity  of 
peoples  with  entirely  different  interests  and 
pursuits  may  still  be  one  in  sympathy,  purpose 
and  hope.  Situated  midway  between  the 
North  and  the  South,  not  only  is  her  climate  a 
delisfhtful  minelinof  of  both  extremes,  but  the 
temper  of  her  inhabitants  is  a  dignified  reserve 
and  a  spontaneous  fervor  of  feeling  happily 
proportioned.  Able,  on  the  one  hand,  to  ap- 
preciate the  spirit  of  progress  which  makes  the 
North  impatient  of  those  conditions  and  ten- 
dencies which  the  South  has  wisely  altered 
with  caution  ;  and,  on  the  other  hand,  appre- 
hending the  principle  of  personal  independence 
which  causes  the  South  to  suspect  Northern 
counsel  as  impelled  by  a  desire  to  interfere 
with  individual  liberty,  she  has  long  occupied 
a  position  similar  to  that  of  Tennyson's  sweet 
little  heroine,  Annie,  who,  sitting  between 
Enoch  and  Philip,  with  a  hand  of  each  in  her 
own,  would  weep, 

"  And  pray  them  not  to  quarrel  for  her  sake." 

Scarcely  less  sublime  than  Columbus  pacing 
the  deck  of  his  ship  at  sea  and  looking  wist- 
fully westward  in  search  of   the  new  world  he- 


5oS 


Louisville 


so  faithfully  sought,  seems  Daniel  Boone,  in 
1769,  venturing  forth  from  the  quiet  valleys  of 
the  Yadkin  in  response  to  the  promptings  of  his 
restless  spirit,  unconsciously  going  to  prepare 

the  way  for  the 
millions  that 
were  subse- 
quently to  follow 
him,  and  as  if  by 
masfic  to  trans- 
form  into  fertile 
fields  the  path- 
less  forests 
beyond  the  Alle- 
ghanies  which 
he  was  the  first 
to  penetrate  and 
explore. 

Dauntless, 
noble  souls  they 
were  who  cre- 
ated our  c  o  m  - 
monwealth  ;  and  Byron,  fascinated  with  the 
refreshing  fame  of  Daniel  Boone,  which  ex- 
tended throughout  Europe  as  well  as  America, 
celebrated  him  and  his  fellow  Kentuckians  in 
a  number  of  fine  stanzas  in  the  eighth  canto 


DANIEL  BOONE. 

FROM    A    PAINTING    IN    THE    POSSESSION    OF    COL.    R.    T. 
DURRETT,     LOUISVILLE,     KY. 


Louisville  509 

of  Don  Juan.  Henry  James,  in  his  life  of 
Hawthorne,  laments  the  lack  of  historic  in- 
spiration for  prose  and  verse  in  this  country  ; 
yet  Byron,  sadly  turning  from  the  shams  and 
hypocrisies  of  the  Old  World,  which  he  scath- 
ingly satirized  in  his  great  production,  burst 
into  a  beautiful  strain  of  hope  as  he  contem- 
plated the  uncorrupted  heroes  of  the  new  world 
beyond  the  Atlantic.  The  description  begins 
half  humorously  with  the  sixty-first  stanza  : 

"  Of  all  men  saving  Sylla  the  man-slayer, 
Who  passes  for  in  life  and  death  most  lucky, 
Of  the  great  names  which  in  our  faces  stare. 
The  General  Boon,  backwoodsman  of  Kentucky, 
Was  happiest  among  mortals  anywhere  ; 
.For  killing  nothing  but  a  bear  or  buck,  he 
Enjoyed  the  lonely,  vigorous,  harmless  days 
Of  his  old  age  in  wilds  of  deepest  maze." 

The  reader  cannot  help  smiling  at  the  poet's 
mistake  in  leavinof  off  the  final  letter  of  Boone's 
name  and  calling  him  "  General,"  when  all 
Kentuckians,  even  including  the  illustrious 
pioneer,  are  "Colonels";  but  the  spirit  of  a 
master  interpreter  of  Nature  is  in  the  stanzas 
that  follow. 

It  was  not  until  i  778  that  LouisVille,  as  it  was 
then  called,  was  founded,  George  Rogers  Clarke 


5IO 


Louisville 


being  a  resident  of  Harrodsburg,  Ky.,  during 
the  years  1776  and  I'J']'].  The  incidents  con- 
nected with  the  settlement  he  established  at 
the  Falls  are  memorable  in  the  annals  of  the 

W^  e  s  t .  The 
British  leaders 
were  seekintr  to 
strike  an  effect- 
ual blow  at  all 
the  American 
frontier  fortress- 
es, and  with  this 
end  in  view  were 
enlisting  the 
sympathies  and 
co-operation  o  f 
the  Indian 
tribes.  Detroit, 
\  i  n  c  e  n  n  e  s  , 
Kaskaskia  and 
similar     British 


GEORGE   ROGERS  CLARK. 

FROM    A    PAIN-ING    IN    THE    POSSESSION    OF    COL      R.    T. 
OURRETT,    LOUISVILLE,    KY. 


Stations  were 
well  fortified,  and  plans  were  speedily  forming 
for  a  descent  on  the  unprepared  and  unsuspect- 
ing pioneers  in  the  Ohio  Valley.  Clark  instinct- 
ively discerned  this  scheme  and  secretly  but 
courageously  determined   to   thwart    it.       He 


Louisville  511 

accordingly  went  to  Williamsburg,  Va.,  in 
November,  1777.  The  news  of  Burgoyne's  sur- 
render had  inspired  the  Virginia  authorities 
with  patriotic  enthusiasm,  and  Governor  Henry 
sanctioned  Clark's  proposal  to  raise  a  suffici- 
ent force  to  proceed  against  the  British  in  the 
Northwest.  Orders  were  issued  and  Clark  was 
put  in  command  of  the  expedition.  Six  thou- 
sand dollars  in  colonial  currency  were  voted 
him,  and  with  the  rank  of  Colonel  he  set  out 
for  Pittsburg.  After  much  discouragement 
he  secured  three  companies  of  volunteers  and 
a  number  of  adventurers  and  continued  his 
journey  down  the  river  to  the  Falls.  The 
fort  that  he  built  on  his  arrival  furnished  a 
nucleus  around  which  the  village  subsequently 
sprang  up. 

Thirteen  families  remained  at  the  Falls 
while  Clark  and  his  men  went  on  against  Kas- 
kaskia.  The  campaign  was  a  brilliant  success. 
One  post  after  another  fell  into  the  hands  of 
the  fearless  Kentuckians,  and  the  whole  of  the 
Northwest  Territory  was  opened  to  emigration. 
It  is  said  that  when  Clark  and  his  followers 
appeared  before  the  astonished  garrisons  dur- 
ing these  operations,  the  redcoats  almost  im- 
agined a  force  had  dropped  from  the  skies,  so 


512  Louisville 

inaccessible  had  they  deemed  their  strongholds 
to  be,  and  so  suddenly  had  their  conquerors 
come  upon  them.  It  was  not  strange,  therefore, 
that  the  eloquent  John  Randolph  of  Roanoke 
spoke  of  Clark  in  after  years  as  the  "  Ameri- 
can Hannibal,  who,  by  the  reduction  of  those 
military  posts  in  the  wilderness,  obtained  the 
Lakes  for  the  northern  boundary  of  our  Union 
at  the  peace  in  1783." 

If  the  visitor  desires  to  see  the  location  of 
the  first  settlement  at  the  Falls  let  him  stand 
upon  the  Fourteenth  Street  Bridge  and  look 
down  the  river.  To  the  right  is  the  main  cur- 
rent of  the  Ohio  as  it  plunges  roaring  over 
the  Falls,  and  to  the  left  is  the  island  on  which 
Colonel  Clark  and  his  men  built  a  fort  when 
they  arrived  in  the  spring  of  1778.  This  was 
called  "  Corn  Island,"  from  the  fact  that  a  crop 
of  corn  was  planted  by  the  risky  pioneers 
around  the  fortress,  and  carefully  cultivated, 
notwithstanding  they  were  hourly  exposed  to 
Indian  attacks. 

Either  in  the  autumn  of  1 778  or  the  spring  of 
1 779  (history  is  not  certain  which),  the  garrison 
on  Corn  Island  went  ashore  and  laid  the  foun- 
dation of  the  future  city  of  Louisville.  Huts, 
blockhouses  and  stockades  were  erected,  and 


BLOCKHOUSE  AND  LOG  CABINS  ON  CORN   ISLAND,   1778. 

FIRST   SETTLEMENT    OF    LOUISVILLE,    KY. 

Front  an  old  print  in  the  possession  of  Col.  R.  T.  Durrett^  Louisville.,  Ky. 


514  Louisville 

the  Indians  saw  that  the  intruders  had  come 
to  stay.  During  the  year  1779,  Colonel  Clark 
directed  his  energies  against  the  British  post 
Vincennes,  and  easily  captured  it. 

In  May,  1780,  the  Virginia  Legislature  passed 
an  "  Act  for  Establishing  the  Town  of  Louis- 
ville at  the  Falls  of  Ohio."  The  population 
of  the  place  had  increased  to  six  hundred  ;  but 
the  increase  of  strength  rendered  the  pioneers 
careless,  and  as  a  consequence  the  Indians  on 
several  occasions  surprised  and  captured  par- 
ties beyond  the  protection  of  the  fort  and  es- 
caped with  them  across  the  river,  or  into  the 
wilderness  to  the  south,  almost  before  an 
alarm  could  be  given.  Colonel  Clark,  in  order 
to  ward  off  the  attacks  of  the  red  men,  con- 
structed a  unique  sort  of  gunboat  supplied 
with  four-pound  cannon.  It  was  the  first  act- 
ual vessel  of  war  ever  seen  on  the  Ohio,  and 
though  some  chroniclers  are  disposed  to  make 
light  of  its  actual  utility  as  a  means  of  defence, 
it  kept  the  insidious  savages  from  crossing  the 
river  in  its  vicinity. 

This  period  in  the  history  of  Kentucky 
( I  780-1800)  was  admirably  portrayed  by  the 
facile  pen  of  Washington  Irving  after  his 
literary  tour  of  the  West  in    1834,  when  he 


I     ^ 


5i6  Louisville 

visited  Louisville  and  took  notes  for  future 
sketches.  An  eccentric  though  shrewd  char- 
acter of  the  da)',  William  P.  Duval,  whose 
career  as  a  pioneer  lawyer,  and  whose  adven- 
tures as  an  Indian  commissioner  under  Mon- 
roe gave  him  fame  scarcely  second  to  that  of 
George  Rogers  Clark,  inspired  those  two  nar- 
ratives in  Crayon  Papers,  called  "  The  Early 
Experiences  of  Ralph  Ringwood,"  and  "  The 
Conspiracy  of  Neamathla."  Mr.  Irving's 
humor  Is  at  its  best  in  the  first  of  these  and 
his  picture  of  primitive  people  is  unsurpassed. 
James  K.  Paulding  likewise  wrote  of  Governor 
Duval  in  a  novel  called  Nimrod  Wildfire. 

With  the  old-style  method  of  travel  by  keel- 
boat  and  barges  (i  780-1810),  going  down  the 
river  was  easy  enough,  but  ascending  stream 
was  indeed  difficult.  A  mile  an  hour  was  the 
maximum  rate  of  progress,  and  if  the  wind 
and  tide  chanced  to  be  unfavorable,  many  days 
were  lost  in  waiting.  Then,  again,  the  craft 
was  likely  to  strike  a  snag  or  run  aground,  and 
the  strength  and  patience  of  the  crew  would 
be  completely  exhausted  ere  another  start 
could  be  effected.  Sometimes  the  men  be- 
came so  exasperated  that  they  would  leave  the 
boat    or   barge   e7i    masse   and    return    afoot 


Louisville  517 

whence  they  had  started.  It  required  three 
and  often  four  months  to  come  up  to  Louis- 
ville from  New  Orleans.  Nor  was  this  all. 
Bands  of  desperadoes  infested  the  forest  on 
either  shore,  and  would  hold  up  a  boat  or  barge, 
— prototypes  of  the  notorious  train  robbers  of 
later  days.  The  records  of  river  navigation 
are  filled  with  thrilling  incidents  and  studies 
of  unique  character. 

But  notwithstanding  these  difficulties  Euro- 
pean tourists  ventured  into  the  wilds  in  search 
of  novelty  or  on  business  speculations.  One 
of  these  came  to  the  Falls  city  as  early  as 
1806,  and  afterwards,  in  writing  his  impres- 
sions of  the  place,  said  :  "  I  had  thought  Cin- 
cinnati one  of  the  most  beautiful  towns  I  had 
seen  in  America,  but  Louisville,  which  is  al- 
most as  large,  equals  it  in  beauty  and  in  the 
opinion  of  many  exceeds  it." 

Robert  Fulton  and  Daniel  French  went  into 
the  steamboat-building  business  at  Pittsburg, 
after  the  trip  of  the  Orleans  in  181 1  ;  and  a 
few  years  later  better  facilities  were  afforded 
for  travel  on  the  Ohio.  The  Eastern  visitor 
to  Louisville  should  by  all  means  come  from 
Cincinnati,  or  even  Pittsburg,  by  boat  in  order 
to  study  the  historic  scenes  and  associations 


5i8  Louisville 

of  the  "  Rhine  of  America."  Distinct  epochs 
in  American  literature  have  arisen  from  the 
inspiration  and  suggestion  given  by  this  cele- 
brated stream  and  life  along  its  course  to  the 
various  writers  who  travelled  its  waters. 

First  and  foremost  among  these  was  John  J. 
Audubon  who  came  in  1809,  previous  to  the 
opening  of  navigation  by  steamboat.  Reports 
of  the  happy  wilds  of  Kentucky  had  reached 
him  in  his  Pennsylvania  home  subsequent  to 
his  return  from  Paris,  where  he  had  been  so- 
journing as  an  art  student.  His  passion  for 
ornithology  drove  him  to  the  West,  and  the 
hour  he  left  Pittsburof  marked  the  beofinninsf  of 
a  new  era  in  his  wonderful  career  as  a  nat- 
uralist. The  Ohio  charmed  him,  and,  locating 
at  Louisville,  he  collected  specimens  of  every 
bird  that  could  be  found  in  forest  or  field.  In 
18 10,  Alexander  Wilson,  the  distinguished 
Scotch-American  ornithologist,  traversed  the 
Ohio  and  Mississippi  valleys  on  a  mission  sim- 
ilar to  Audubon's.  Stopping  for  a  season  at 
the  Falls  city  he  chanced  to  become  ac- 
quainted with  Audubon,  and  in  the  course  of 
conversation  the  two  exchanged  ideas  and 
were  astonished  to  discover  that  they  were 
pursuing  the  same  line  of  w^ork.      This  meeting 


520  Louisville 

was  memorable,  for  it  awakened  Audubon  to 
a  full  realization  of  his  genius  and  helped 
Wilson  unspeakably.  Indeed,  so  far-reaching 
were  its  results  that  in  order  to  appreciate 
them  one  has  first  to  familiarize  himself  with 
some  of  the  subtlest  tendencies  and  movements 
of  the  nineteenth  century. 

When  steamboat  navioration  beofan  on  the 
Ohio  (1812-16)  the  rush  of  emigration  com- 
menced anew.  Thirty-nine  English  families 
sent  Henry  Bradshaw  Fearon  over  in  18 16  to 
make  a  careful  study  of  places  and  people  in 
the  Ohio  Valley.  He  was  an  intelligent,  prac- 
tical observer,  and  his  descriptions  of  the  in- 
habitants and  social  conditions  of  Louisville 
are  strikingly  suggestive  of  Dickens.  There 
is  a  vein  of  sarcasm  in  his  observations,  due 
to  the  fact  that  he  has  little  sympathy  with  the 
commercial  ambition  that  seemed  to  possess 
the  people  to  the  exclusion  of  higher  pursuits. 
Every  one  seemed  self-absorbed  and  bent  on 
money-making  ;  even  the  best  hotels  were  con- 
ducted on  the  crowding  policy.  The  people 
had  unparalleled  appetites,  according  to  Mr. 
Fearon,  for  his  description  of  a  tavern  meal  in 
Louisville  is  similar  to  Dickens's  report  of  the 
fast-eating  Americans  he  met  while  among  us. 


Louisville  521 

The  tide  of  emigration  from  England  swelled 
enormously  in  the  decades  succeeding   1820- 
40,  and  swindlers  reaped  so  rich  a  harvest  by 
selling  imaginary  land  bargains  in  imaginary 
towns  of  the  Ohio  Valley   that  an  investiga- 
tion   became    necessary.      A  leading  purpose 
with  Charles  Dickens  in  coming  to  America 
on  his  first  tour  in   1842  was  to  examine  into 
and  expose  these  frauds,   which  he  did  with 
fearless   sarcasm  and   irresistible  irony.     The 
whole  plot  of  Martin  Chuzzlewit   hinges  on 
real-estate   speculations   at   Cairo,   111.,   at  the 
mouth  of  the  Ohio,  the  original  of  the  city  of 
*'  Eden,"  which  Scadder,  the  real-estate  agent, 
so  eulogistically  described  to  Martin  that  the 
credulous    young    Englishman    forthwith    in- 
vested all  his  funds  in  the  hope  of  reaping  an 
ample  fortune  by  the  day  he  set  foot  in  the 
place.      Pittsburg,    Cincinnati   and    Louisville 
are  realistically,  and  in  some  respects  ridicu- 
lously, portrayed  in  chapters  xxi.-xxiii.,  and  if 
the  reader  will  compare  these  with  Dickens's 
American  Notes,   the    actual    scenes    and   ex- 
periences   that    suggested    the    story   may  be 
found. 

As  an  offset  to  the  severity  of  this  inimitable 
satire,  the    reader   should    peruse    the    article 


522  Louisville 

"  Eno^lish  Writers  on  America  "  in  Washinor- 
ton  Irvinoj-'s  Sketch  Book,  which  was  called 
forth  by  exaggerated  stories  propagated  by  the 
pens  of  early  British  travellers  in  this  country 
after  their  return  home.  Dickens  came  to 
Louisville  in  1842,  and  when  he  had  gone  up 
to  his  room  at  the  Gait  House,  Major  Throck- 
morton, the  proprietor,  who  was  as  high  spir- 
ited as  he  was  polite,  appeared  at  the  novelist's 
door  and  said,  "  Sir,  I  am  proud  to  extend  you 
the  hospitality  of  the  house  ;  and  shall  be  de- 
lighted to  serve  you  to  the  best  of  my  ability." 
"  Boz,"  in  spite  of  his  alertness,  was  not  aware 
of  the  vast  difference  there  is  between  the  so- 
cial standing  of  an  American  hotel  proprietor 
and  that  of  an  English  innkeeper.  Glancing 
at  the  Major  he  replied,  "  All  right,  sir  ;  all 
right ;  if  I  want  anything  I  '11  ring  for  you." 
Throckmorton's  eyes  flashed  with  anger  as  he 
exclaimed,  "  What  do  you  mean  by  such  im- 
pudence to  me  ?  You  don't  know  whom  you 
are  talking  to  ;  I  '11  throw  you  out  of  the  win- 
dow." The  Major  was  a  powerful  man  and 
would  doubtless  have  made  good  his  threat 
had  not  Dickens  speedily  apologized  for  his 
mistake. 

Amonor  the  Enorlishmen  induced  to  emierate 


524  Louisville 

to  Kentucky  by  Mr.  Fearon's  book  in  1818, 
was  George  Keats,  brother  of  the  poet,  John 
Keats,  The  circumstances  of  his  coming  and 
his  career  after  arriving  form  one  of  the  inter- 
esting chapters  in  the  early  history  of  the 
State. 

Georofe  returned  to  Enofland  in  the  autumn 
-of  1 8 19,  leaving  his  wife  in  Louisville.  Secur- 
ing the  remainder  of  the  family  estate  which 
fell  to  him,  he  invested  in  the  lumber  trade  at 
the  Falls  city  and  made  a  fortune.  His  mills 
were  located  on  First  Street,  between  Wash- 
ington Street  and  the  river,  and  in  1835  ^^ 
built  an  elegant  residence  on  what  is  now  Wal- 
nut Street,  between  Third  and  Fourth.  The 
square  on  which  this  mansion  still  stands  was 
then  the  aristocratic  section  of  the  city,  and 
while  the  house  was  in  course  of  construction 
people  would  stroll  along  and  speak  admiringly 
of  it  as  "The  Englishman's  Palace."  With 
the  exception  of  the  roof,  which  was  altered, 
and  the  present  portico,  which  was  added  by 
a  subsequent  purchaser,  the  residence  is  in  no 
wise  changed  since  George  Keats  occupied  it. 
Lavish  was  the  hospitality  dispensed  by  the 
poet's  brother,  and  he  will  always  rank  among 
the  noblest  citizens   Louisville  has  ever  had. 


Louisville  525. 

Though  the  happiness  of  helping] ohn  was  not, 
as  he  had  hoped,  permitted  him,  his  house  be- 
came the  center  of  a  circle  of  warm  admirers  of 
the  author  of  Endyniion,  and  for  a  long  time 
the  culture  of  the  city  and  State  found  in  him 
a  leader  both  liberal  and  inspiring.  James 
Freeman  Clarke  was  for  seven  or  eight  years 
pastor  of  the  Unitarian  Church  in  Louisville, 
and  Georo^e  Keats  was  a  member  of  his  con- 
gregation.  The  two  became  intimate  friends, 
and  Mr.  Clarke  afterward  wrote  entertainingly 
of  him.  He  served  in  the  city  council  and 
aided  in  the  establishment  of  the  Louisville 
school  system. 

The  correspondence  between  George  and 
John  includes  some  of  the  poet's  finest  letters. 
These  descended  to  one  of  Georg-e's  daughters. 
About  the  year  1873  her  son,  John  Gilmer 
Speed,  the  well-known  writer,  now  of  New 
York,  chanced  to  be  looking  over  these  price- 
less papers  and  noticed  that  they  had  not  been 
published  in  Lord  Houghton's  life  of  Keats. 
He  accordingly  collected  them,  and  from  one 
of  the  volumes  we  select  a  few  brief  senten- 
ces pertinent  to  the  purpose  of  the  present 
sketch. 

One  letter  from  John  tells  George  to  take. 


526  Louisville 

financial  reverses  as  coolly  as  possible,  con- 
siderini^f  he  had  done  his  best.  Another,  de- 
clining- an  invitation  to  come  to  Kentucky, 
says,  "  You  will  perceive  that  it  is  quite  out 
of  my  interest  to  come  to  America.  What 
could  I  do  there  ?  How  could  I  employ  m)- 
self,  out  of  the  reach  of  libraries  ?  "  And  thus 
he  counsels  George  :  "  Be  careful  of  those 
Americans.  I  could  almost  advise  you  to 
come,  whenever  you  have  the  sum  of  five 
hundred  pounds,  to  England.  Those  Ameri- 
cans will,  I  am  afraid,  still  fleece  you."  In  a 
letter  to  George's  wife  in  January,  1820,  he 
speaks  of  his  wish  to  cross  the  sea  with  his 
brother  :  "  I  could  almost  promise  you  that 
if  I  had  the  means  I  would  accompany  George 
back  to  America,  and  pay  you  a  visit  of  a  few 
months."  Had  he  made  the  trip  and  beheld 
with  his  own  eyes  the  loveliness  of  the  Ohio 
Valley,  and  met  the  kindly  people  of  Ken- 
tucky, he  would  not  have  been  so  inclined  to 
disparage  Louisville  society  :  "  I  was  sur- 
prised to  hear  of  the  state  of  society  at  Louis- 
ville :  it  seems  you  are  just  as  ridiculous  there  as 
we  are  here  —  threepenny  parties,  halfpenny 
dances.  The  best  thing  I  have  heard  of  is 
your  shooting,  for  it  seems  you  follow  the  gun." 


528  Louisville 

A  terrible  tragedy  occurred  at  the  Keats 
mansion,  back  in  the  forties,  about  which  there 
is  a  pathetic  tradition.  Isabella,  the  beautiful 
young  daughter  of  George  Keats,  according 
to  tradition,  killed  herself  in  a  fit  of  despon- 
dency at  the  unhappy  termination  of  a  love- 
affair.  A  circumstance  said  to  have  taken 
place  in  1890  seemed  to  substantiate  the  tra- 
dition. An  elderly,  refined-looking  and  quiet 
stranger  appeared  repeatedly  at  the  Keats 
house  and  requested  to  be  left  alone  in  the 
library,  where  the  girl  was  shot.  At  first  he 
offered  no  explanation  of  his  unusual  request, 
but  when  finally  leaving  he  said  to  the  lady 
who  had  admitted  him,  "  I  parted  from  her  in 
there,  and  have  returned  from  California  to 
visit  the  scene  once  more."  The  rumor  was 
soon  circulated  that  the  mysterious  stranger 
was  the  lover  whose  unfaithfulness  had  robbed 
the  unhappy  girl  of  the  desire  to  live. 

The  descendants  of  George  Keats  still  liv- 
ing in  Louisville  deny  the  pathetic  story 
throughout.  They  affirm  that  the  girl  was 
heartwhole  and  free  from  any  morbid  tenden- 
cies. Their  version  of  the  tragedy  is  substan- 
tially as  follows  :  Isabella's  brother  Clarence 
had  been  out  hunting  in  the  vicinity  of  the 


53°  Louisville 

city,  and,  returning  home,  carelessly  left  his 
gun  on  a  sofa  in  the  darkened  library.  Isa- 
bella shortly  afterward  went  into  the  room  to 
lie  down,  and,  not  seeing  the  loaded  weapon, 
struck  the  trigger  in  such  a  way  with  her  foot 
that  the  contents  was  discharged,  mortally 
wounding  her. 

Edward  Earaleston's  inimitable  Hoosier 
Tales  portray  the  next  period  in  the  history 
of  the  Ohio  Valley  (1840-60),  immortalizing 
those  pedagogues  of  the  Ichabod  Crane  type 
who  came  swarming  from  New  England  when 
the  tide  of  emigration  first  set  westward.  Mr. 
Eggleston  spent  his  childhood  on  the  river  be- 
tween Cincinnati  and  Louisville,  and  his  pic- 
tures of  primitive  social  life  in  Kentucky  and 
southern  Indiana  are  in  the  style  of  Irving's 
sketch  already  mentioned.  Zachary  Taylor 
went  to  school,  not  far  from  the  Falls  fort, 
to  one  of  these  Yankee  teachers,  a  native  of 
Connecticut  by  the  name  of  Ayers,  who  was 
a  sagacious  fellow,  able  to  watch  the  Indians 
and  urchins  simultaneously.  The  South  and 
West  owe  these  wandering  educators  a  debt  of 
gratitude  that  can  hardly  be  overestimated. 

It  was  from  the  Falls  city  that  Aaron  Burr 
planned  to  make  his  treasonable  descent  upon 


Louisville  531 

the  South  in  November,  1805,  ^^^  there  is 
still  current  in  the  State  much  interesting  tra- 
dition concerning  him.  The  court-house  in 
Louisville  contains  the  noble  statue  of  Henry 
Clay  by  Joel  T.  Hart.  At  the  Polytechnic 
Society  on  Fourth  Avenue  are  Hart's  other 
pieces  of  statuary  ;  and  on  Third  Avenue,  at 
the  residence  of  Mrs.  Elizabeth  Menefee,  are 
many  of  those  superb  portraits  painted  by 
Matthew  H.  Jouett,  Gilbert  Stuart's  favorite  pu- 
pil, and  a  master  American  artist.  His  genius 
and  that  of  Hart  developed  beyond  the  confines 
of  classic  civilization,  and  though  subsequently 
aided  and  directed  by  the  best  instruction  of 
conventional  schools  retained  an  individuality 
and  conformity  to  nature  all  their  own. 

Just  across  the  court-house  square,  and 
within  a  stone's  throw  of  the  imposing  figure 
of  the  sage  of  Ashland  is  the  site  of  the  old 
Pope  residence  where  Worden  Pope  and  his 
sons  entertained  James  Monroe  and  Andrew 
Jackson  during  their  tour  through  the  South 
in  18 19.  The  Popes  held  a  high  position  of 
political  influence  in  the  State,  and  at  a  con- 
ference called  on  this  occasion  the  name  of 
Andrew  Jackson  was  first  proposed  to  the 
Southern  people  as  Monroe's  successor. 


532  Louisville 

The  home  of  Zachary  Taylor,  five  miles 
from  the  city,  is  well  worth  visiting.  Near 
it  is  the  house  in  which  Jefferson  Davis  was 
married  to  his  first  wife,  the  daughter  of  Gen- 
eral Taylor. 

On  August  6,  1855,  occurred  the  terrible 
political  riot  precipitated  by  the  Know-noth- 
ings. A  mob  with  a  cannon  at  their  head 
went  murdering  and  burning  through  the 
streets  of  Louisville.  The  day  is  known  in 
history  as  "  Bloody  Monday." 

Louisville  was  decidedly  Union  in  its  sym- 
pathies during  the  Civil  War,  though  many  of 
its  inhabitants  inclined  to  support  the  Southern 
cause.  George  D.  Prentice,  though  just  and 
kindly  to  the  South,  was  always  loyal  to  the 
national  government,  and  his  paper,  the  Jour- 
nal, was  notably  influential  on  that  side.  The 
Falls  city  as  a  recruiting  station  at  the  begin- 
ning of  the  struggle  between  the  States  was 
fully  as  important  in  the  West  as  was  Wash- 
ington in  the  East.  It  was  the  basis  of  numer- 
ous military  movements  that  turned  the  tide  of 
fortune  against  the  Confederates,  and  in  this 
city  some  of  the  most  eminent  Federal  com- 
manders were  at  different  times  located. 

At  the  home  of  Col.  Reuben  T.  Durrett  on 


^^w 


534  Louisville 

East  Chestnut  Street  are  relics  innumerable, 
and  the  scholarly  host,  who  knows  every  fact 
of  the  city's  history,  is  ever  ready  to  show 
them  to  the  visitor.  Louisville  is  not  only  a 
lively  commercial  center,  but  Is  also  the  home 
of  culture  and  art.  The  brain  and  beauty  of 
which  she  boasts  can  be  found  throughout  the 
Blue  Grass  region,  and  the  hospitality  she  dis- 
penses Is  characteristic  of  the  whole  common- 
wealth. Mary  Anderson  de  Navarro  first  won 
fame  In  this  city,  her  girlhood  home,  and  has 
never  ceased  to  love  It.  Henry  Watterson 
and  his  able  young  lieutenant,  Harrison  Rob- 
ertson, still  keep  the  Cotiricr-yotirnal  to  the 
front ;  and  James  Lane  Allen,  though  not  a 
native  nor  a  resident  of  the  Falls  city,  por- 
trays the  traits  of  her  people  upon  his  inimita- 
ble pages  when  he  writes  of  all  Kentucklans. 
Madison  Cawein,  the  Keats  of  America,  Is 
here;  and  Charles  J.  O'Malley,  who  voices 
the  sentiment  of  every  Kentucklan  when  he 
sings  : 

"  My  own  Kentucky,  sweet  is  fame, 
And  other  suns  sink  down  in  flame  ; 
And  other  skies  bend  over  blue  ; 
And  other  lands  have  hearts  as  true  ; 
And  other  mornings  break  as  clear  : 


Louisville 


535 


And  God  keeps  love-watch  everywhere- 
But  O,  my  mother,  on  thy  breast 
Alone  my  head  may  find  full  rest, — 
My  heart  to  thy  heart  as  of  yore, — 
Asleep  within  thy  arms  once  more, 
O  my  Kentucky  !  " 


LITTLE   ROCK 


"THE   CITY   OF   ROSES" 


By  GEORGE  B.  ROSE 


THERE  are  spots  marked  out  by  nature 
for  the  sites  of  cities,  where  they  must 
spring  up  as  soon  as  civiHzation  is  estabHshed 
and  remain  as  long  as  it  endures.  Such  a 
spot  is  Little  Rock. 

The  southeastern  half  of  Arkansas  is  low 
and  flat,  composed  chiefly  of  alluvial  plains  ; 
the  northwestern  half  ruesfed  and  broken,  ris- 
ing  toward  the  western  border  into  the  moun- 
tains, some  three  thousand  feet  in  elevation, 
which  gradually  drop  away  toward  the  east 
till  they  disappear  altogether.  At  the  point, 
almost  the  exact  center  of  the  State,  where 
the  last  foothills  form  the  south  bank  of  the 
principal  river,  it  was  inevitable  that  a  city 
should  be  built  and  that  that  city  should  be- 
come the  State's  capital.      Indeed,  so  manifest 


537 


538  Little  Rock 

was  the  destiny  of  the  position  that  it  was 
made  the  seat  of  government  before  it  had 
become  a  town,  and  when  it  was  far  beyond 
the  limits  of  actual  settlement. 

Nor  would  it  be  easy  to  find  a  more  desir- 
able spot  not  beside  the  sea.  The  foundation 
is  a  rock  bluff  of  slight  elevation,  but  sufficient 
to  lift  the  city  above  the  danger  of  overflow. 
On  this  there  rests  a  bed  of  gravelly  clay, 
covered  with  a  thin  vegetable  mould,  and  ris- 
ings to  the  south  and  west  in  a  succession  of 
gently  swelling  eminences,  presenting  innu- 
merable building  sites  of  the  most  attractive 
character,  and  draining  in  every  direction ; 
equally  free  from  steep  acclivities  and  un- 
wholesome flatness,  and  clothed  by  nature 
with  a  magnificent  forest  of  wide-spreading 
oaks  and  lofty  pines.  Far  out  into  the  river 
there  projects  a  rocky  peninsula,  against  whose 
adamantine  sides  the  stream  has  dashed  its 
ineffectual  fury  for  countless  ages  ;  and  this, 
in  contrast  to  the  bold  precipice  upon  the 
other  bank,  which  was  called  the  Big  Rock, 
gave  to  the  place  its  name. 

This  promontory  is  now  used  as  the  abut- 
ment of  one  of  the  three  bridges  that  span  the 
river,  and  its  beauty  has  been  destroyed  ;  but 


Little  Rock 


539 


in  the  old  days,  when  it  was  clothed  with 
trees  and  ferns  clinging  to  its  rocky  sides  and 
reflected  in  the  waters  below,  it  was  a  charm- 
ing sight,  and  must  have  been  hailed  with  joy 
by  the  early  travelers  after  their  weary  journey 


THE  "little  rock,"  TO  WHICH   THE  CITY  OWES  ITS  NAME. 

from  the  distant  sea  through  the  monotony  of 
the  low-lying  wilderness. 

The  original  inhabitants  of  the  region  were 
the  Quapaw  or  Arkansas  Indians,  a  race  much 
superior  to  the  surrounding  savages,  and  who 
dwelt  not  in  scattered  wigwams  but  in  walled 
villages,  and  seem  always  to  have  lived  in 
amity  with  the  whites.  Father  Pierre  Fran- 
9ois  de  Charlevoix,  an  early  French  missionary, 


540 


Little  Rock 


says  of  them,  "  The  Arkansas  are  reckoned 
to  be  the  tallest  and  best-shaped  of  all  the 
savages  on  this  continent,"  and  he  speaks  at 
length  of  their  kindness  to  the  French,  and 
their  fidelity  to   their   engagements.      So    Du 


LITTLE  ROCK  LEVEE. 


Pratz,  an  early  voyageiw,  says  :  "  I  am  so  pre- 
possessed in  favor  of  this  country  that  I  per- 
suade myself  that  the  beauty  of  the  climate 
has  a  o-reat  influence  on  the  character  of  the 
inhabitants,  who  are  at  the  same  time  very 
gentle  and  very  brave." 

In  the  days  when  Little  Rock  was  a  part  of 
the  favorite  hunting-ground  of  the  Quapaws 
it  must  have  been  a  lovely  spot.     Then  the 


Little  Rock  541 

tall  trees  grew  untouched  upon  its  rolling 
hills,  and  its  numerous  little  streams,  now  con- 
verted into  sewers,  flowed  murmuring  beneath 
overhanging  ferns  to  mingle  with  the  river. 

When  it  was  first  visited  by  white  men  no 
one  knows.  During  1541  and  1542  De  Soto 
marched  back  and  forth  througrh  the  reeion, 
seeking  for  gold  with  a  Spaniard's  hunger ; 
but  the  accounts  of  his  wanderings  are  uncer- 
tain and  confused,  and  the  blood  of  the  un- 
happy natives  which  once  marked  out  his 
pathway  has  long  since  mingled  with  the  dust. 

Then  for  almost  two  hundred  years  the  sol- 
itude of  the  wilderness  remained  unbroken. 
At  rare  intervals  the  French  voyageurs  went 
up  and  down  the  Mississippi,  establishing  forts 
and  trading-posts ;  but  the  great  river  so 
engrossed  their  attention  that  they  left  its 
tributaries  unexplored.  At  length,  in  1722,  a 
French  officer,  Bernard  de  la  Harpe,  ascended 
the  Arkansas,  and  on  April  9th  reached  the 
picturesque  heights  of  Big  Rock,  where  the 
army  post  is  now  located.  Standing  upon 
the  brink  of  its  lofty  precipice  he  watched  the 
river  winding  far  away  in  the  distance  between 
the  mountains  of  the  West,  and  dreamed  of 
the  mighty  empire  that  France  should  build  up 


542  Little  Rock 

where  lay  the  untrodden  beauty  of  the  woods. 
The  whole  site  of  Little  Rock  was  spread  out 
beneath  him,  clothed  in  verdure,  and  he  men- 
tions the  slate  bluffs  which  it  presents  to  the 
stream. 

Then  again  the  curtain  is  drawn  over  the 
scene.  Doubtless  from  time  to  time  French 
voyagciirs  ascended  the  river  to  barter  with  the 
Indians  for  their  furs,  but  they  left  no  mark. 
In  1803,  th^  country  passed  to  the  United 
States  as  a  part  of  the  Louisiana  purchase,  and 
the  hardy  Anglo-Saxon  pioneer  began  to  pen- 
etrate the  wilderness,  his  Bible  in  one  hand 
and  in  the  other  his  long,  death-dealing  rifle. 
As  early  as  18 14  three  or  four  squatters 
were  dwellincr  at  Little  Rock  or  in  its  vicin- 
ity,  subsisting  chiefly  by  the  chase  ;  and  even 
then  the  importance  of  the  site  was  so  conspic- 
uous that  strong  men  dwelling  in  St.  Louis  and 
other  places  began  to  struggle  for  possession 
of  the  title  with  a  pertinacity  rarely  equalled. 

At  this  period  it  escaped  a  great  danger. 
An  effort  was  made  to  christen  it  Arkopolis, 
and  deeds  were  executed  with  that  desiofnation  ; 
but  better  counsels  prevailed,  and  it  retained 
its  old  name,  "  The  Little  Rock,"  the  article 
then  being  an  inseparable  portion  of  the  title. 


t.i;M!XeiiSMi^S^  -f 


544  Little  Rock 

It  was  still  a  mere  spot  in  the  forest 
marked  by  a  few  log  huts  when,  on  October 
24,  1820,  it  was  made  the  capital  of  the  terri- 
tory. On  the  4th  of  July  of  tliat  year  the 
Rev.  Cephas  Washburn  had  preached  the 
first  sermon  ever  heard  there,  and  in  the  rude 
cabin  there  were  gathered  to  listen  to  him 
only  fourteen  men, —  no  women, —  probably 
all  the  inhabitants  of  the  place.  Yet  no  one 
doubted  that  they  were  standing  upon  the 
site  of  a  future  city,  or  questioned  the  wis- 
dom of  the  Leg-islature  when  it  established 
the  capital  in  the  remote  wilderness,  far  from 
the  Mississippi  in  whose  neighborhood  the 
scanty  population  of  the  territory  was  chiefly 
gathered. 

The  town  grew  slowly.  It  was  far  from  the 
centers  of  population,  and  the  means  of  travel 
were  slight  and  precarious.  It  was  made  a 
post-office  town  on  April  10,  1820,  but  the  in- 
habitants in  1830  numbered  only  four  hundred 
and  fifty,  and  it  was  not  incorporated  until 
Nov.  7,  1831. 

In  i860,  the  population  was  only  about  five 
thousand.  Between  1833  and  1846  the  State 
House  was  built,  a  handsome  edifice  for  the 
time  and  place  ;    but  generally  the  buildings 


Little  Rock 


545 


were  constructed  of  wood,  not  infrequently  of 
logs,  and  were  wholly  unpretentious.  Yet  it 
is  probable  that  there  has  never  been  in  the 
city  so  much  ability,  certainly  never  so  many 
striking  personalities,  as  in  those  early  days. 


OLD  STATE  HOUSE. 


It  was  a  time  when  the  nation  was  in  its 
lusty  youth,  when  the  spirit  of  adventure  and 
the  love  of  independence  were  strong  in  the 
breasts  of  men.  It  was  an  age  of  great  ora- 
tors, when  men  felt  strongly  and  expressed 
themselves  in  words  that  burned.  It  was  an 
acre  when  the  romantic  movement  in  literature 
was  at  its  best,  and  when  the  sad  smallness  of 
the  realistic  school  had  not  cast  its  blight  on 
every   lofty   enthusiasm.       It  was   a  time   of 


546 


Little  Rock 


buoyancy,  of  expansion,  —  when  the  love  of 
change  and  adventure,  the  weariness  of  the 
conventionalities  of  civilized  life,  the  attractions 
of  a  future  of  unknown  possibilities,  were  draw- 
ing many  of  the  ablest  and  most  ambitious  of  the 


THE  HOUSE  WHERE  THE  ARKANSAS  LEGISLATURE  WAS  HELD   IN  1835. 

nation's  youth  to  the  distant  West.  Their 
hopes  were  often  chimerical ;  but  of  their  abil- 
ities and  their  energy  there  can  be  no  doubt. 
They  sought  the  West,  conscious  of  their 
strength,  burning  with  ambition,  each  dream- 
ing that  he  would  be  the  master-spirit  of  the 
new  empire  that  was  springing  from  the  wil- 
derness. When  they  found  that  instead  of 
being  unquestioned  leaders  among  ignorant 
frontiersmen  they  were  pitted  against  foemen 


Little  Rock 


547 


worthy  of  their  steel,  and  equally  determined 
to  rule  the  destinies  of  the  infant  common- 
wealth, the  rivalries  were  fierce,  the  animosi- 
ties  bitter,    the 


struggle  in- 
tense.  Politics 
ran  high,  and 
conflicting  am- 
bitions led  to  a 
degree  of  per- 
sonal virulence 
in  writing  and 
in  speech  sur- 
pass i  n  g  any- 
thing that  we 
have  t  o-d  a  y. 
When  these 
young  men  first 
met,  fire  flashed 
as  when  flint 
and  steel  are  struck  together,  and  in  the  ter- 
ritorial days  their  quarrels  were  too  often 
solved  by  the  duel.  After  the  admission  of 
the  State  in  1836  affairs  became  more  tran- 
quil. The  strong  men  gradually  learned  to 
dwell  together  in  peace  ;  but  their  rivalries, 
though  less  bloody,  were  not  less  strenuous. 


ALBERT   PIKE. 


548 


Little  Rock 


All  parts  of  the  country  contributed  their 
quota.  From  Massachusetts  there  came  per- 
haps the  two  ablest  men,   Chester  Ashley  and 

Albert  Pike,  men 
who  would  have 
been  remarkable 
in  any  age  or 
place.  Connect- 
icut sent  Samuel 
H.  Hempstead  ; 
Virginia,  Henry 
W,  Conway  and 
Solon  Borland  ; 
Kentucky,  the 
State's  most  ac- 
complished ora- 
tors, Robert 
Crittenden  and 
Frederick  W. 
Trap  nail,  be- 
sides William  and  Ebenezer  Cummins  and 
George  C.  Watkins  ;  North  Carolina,  Archi- 
bald Yell ;  Tennessee,  Absalom  Fowler  and 
Ambrose  H.  Sevier ;  and  there  were  many 
others  from  various  sections  worthy  to  enter 
the  same  arena. 

And    not    at    home    alone    were    the    great 


ROBERT  CRITTENDEN. 


Little  Rock 


549 


abilities  of  these  men  acknowledged.  Arkan- 
sas' first  two  senators  were  Ashley  and  Sevier, 
and  the  former  was  the  chairman  of  the  Judici- 
ary Committee  of  the  Senate,  while  the  latter 


THE  OLD  FOWLER  MANSION. 

NOW    THE    RESIDENCE    OF    JOHN    M.    GRACIE. 


was  the  chairman  of  its  Committee  on  Foreign 
Relations,  the  only  time  when  the  chairman- 
ship of  both  those  great  committees  has  been 
lodged  in  the  hands  of  a  single  State, — and  that 
a  State  whose  population  consisted  of  a  few 
frontiersmen  almost  lost  in  the  primeval  forest. 
And  when  the  Mexican  War  was  over  and  the 


550 


Little  Rock 


time  came  to  reap  the  fruits  of  victory,  it  was 
Mr.  Sevier  who,  together  with  Mr.  Justice 
Chfford,  negotiated  the  treaty  of  peace. 

The   leaders   of   the    infant    commonwealth 


THE  CRITTENDEN  RESIDENCE. 

THE    FIRST    BRICK    HOUSE    BUILT    IN    LITTLE    ROCK.       NOW    THE    HOME   OF   GOVERNOR 
JAMES    P.     EAGLE. 

were  all  lawyers.  In  the  early  days  of  the  Re- 
public the  position  of  lawyers  was  much  more 
commanding  than  it  is  at  present.  Their 
social  influence  has  waned  before  the  aristoc- 
racy of  wealth  ;  and  their  political  power  has 
largely  passed  to  the  "boss"  and  the  machine, 
whose    authority    rests    on  a    more    material 


552  Little  Rock 

basis  than  eloquence  and  reason.  And  never 
was  there  a  city  so  dominated  by  its  bar  as 
Little  Rock  in  the  olden  times.  Everything 
circled  around  the  great  lawyers.  Even  the 
wealth  of  the  community  was  mostly  in  their 
hands.  The  houses  of  the  citizens  were  sfen- 
erally  of  wood,  and  usually  stood  upon  the 
street ;  but  scattered  about  there  arose  the 
stately  mansions  of  the  leaders  of  the  bar, — 
of  Ashley,  Pike,  Trapnall,  Fowler,  Crittenden, 
Hempstead  and  others,  encircled  by  extensive 
grounds  and  shaded  by  patriarchal  trees,  dom- 
inatintr-  the  surroundinor  dwellinofs  almost  like 
feudal  chateaux.  In  these  mansions  were  con- 
centrated the  social  and  intellectual  life  of  the 
community,  and  its  history  was  the  story  of 
their  daily  struggles  for  pre-eminence. 

So  Little  Rock  grew  and  flourished,  men 
dwelling  in  peace  beneath  their  vines  and  fig 
trees,  until  the  year  1861  brought  up  the  mo- 
mentous question  of  disunion  and  war.  Ar- 
kansas was  strongly  attached  to  the  Union.  In 
its  mountainous  regfions  there  were  no  slaves, 
and  three  fourths  of  the  people  were  white. 
The  convention  called  to  determine  the  course 
the  State  should  take  adjourned  without  ac- 
tion, declining  to  enter  the  confederacy  that 


Little  Rock  553 

had  been  formed  at  Montgomery,  Ala.  But 
when  they  reassembled  the  war  was  already 
flagrant,  and  with  only  a  single  dissenting  vote 
they  cast  in  their  lot  with  their  brethren  of 
the  South.  The  result  was  hailed  by  the  peo- 
ple of  Little  Rock  with  unlimited  enthusiasm. 
Confidence  in  the  success  of  Southern  arms 
was  universal.  No  grim  spectre  of  invasion 
and  despair  haunted  their  dreams.  But  the 
awakeningr  was  rude.  The  Northern  armies 
poured  across  the  border  in  overwhelming 
numbers,  and  soon  the  people  had  to  fight 
for  their  altars  and  their  firesides.  Rarely 
have  a  people  sprung  so  universally  to  arms, 
or  defended  their  homes  with  such  tenacity. 
Out  of  a  voting  population  of  61,198,  fully 
fifty  thousand  were  in  the  ranks.  But  they 
fought  in  vain.  On  Sept.  10,  1863,  Little  Rock 
was  captured  by  the  Northern  forces  under 
General  Steele.  They  did  the  place  no  harm, 
save  that  upon  one  of  its  highest  eminences 
they  constructed  a  powerful  fort,  and  to  hold 
it  in  security  leveled  the  forest  to  a  great  dis- 
tance in  every  direction,  destroying  many  a 
monarch  of  the  wood  which  it  will  require 
centuries  to  replace. 

Since  the  Civil  War  the   history   of  Little 


554 


Little  Rock 


Rock  has  been  one  of  continuous  develop- 
ment. Even  the  period  of  Reconstruction, 
that  stranee  saturnalia  that  constitutes  one  of 
the  darkest  spots  in  the  annals  of  the  Anorlo- 


CUSTOM   HOUSE  AND   POST  OFFICE. 


Saxon  race,  did  not  retard  its  growth.  It  is 
now  a  city  of  some  forty  thousand  inhabitants, 
and  its  future  has  never  been  so  bright.  The 
mildness  of  its  climate  and  the  profusion  of  its 
flowers  have  won  for  it  the  name  of  "  The 
City  of  Roses."  The  charm  of  its  society, 
where    Southern     hospitality    is    so    happily- 


Little  Rock 


555 


blended  with  Northern  thrift  and  neatness, 
have  made  it  a  favorite  place  for  visitors  from 
every  State.  Its  inhabitants  are  fond  of  art 
and   of   foreign    travel,    and   few   cities   of   its 


UTTLE  ROCK  UNIVERSITY. 


size  send  to  Europe  a  larger  or  more  regular 
contingent,  or  can  show  to  the  visitor  more 
statues  and  pictures  brought  home  from 
abroad.  A  breadth  of  view  unique  in  the 
South,  which  has  led  it  to  welcome  immigra- 
tion from  the  North,  has  saved  it  from  stagna- 
tion, and  in  all  departments  of  business  there 


556  Little  Rock 

are  almost  as  many  men  from  the  North  as 
from  the  South.  The  Indian  Territory,  which 
for  years  has  stood  as  a  Chinese  wall  upon  the 
State's  western  border,  cutting  it  off  from  all 
participation  in  the  great  movement  of  trans- 
continental traffic,  and  retarding  its  progress 
to  an  extent  that  is  almost  inconceivable,  is 
now  opening,  and  railroads  are  penetrating 
the  new  field.  Commerce  is  flourishing,  fac- 
tories springing  up,  and  everywhere  the  school- 
master is  abroad  in  the  land.  The  decrees  of 
the  future  are  inscrutable,  but,  so  far  as  mor- 
tal eye  can  discern,  the  twentieth  century  will 
be  for  Little  Rock  one  of  constant  (growth 
and  advancement,  material  and  intellectual, 
and  the  wisdom  of  the  men  who  planted  the 
State's  capital  upon  this  rock  when  it  stood 
alone  in  the  pathless  wilderness  will  be  more 
than  justified. 


ST.   AUGUSTINE 


THE  OLDEST  TOWN  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES 


By  GEORGE  R.   FAIRBANKS 


FAR  down  on  the  Atlantic  coast  lies  the  old 
city  of  St.  Augustine.  Unlike  most  of 
our  early  towns,  which  have  either  been  aban- 
doned, like  Jamestown,  or  rebuilt  and  modern^ 
ized  until  their  ancient  form  and  fashion  are  no 
longer  recognizable,  St.  Augustine  has  pre- 
served its  antiquity.  Its  newness  is  placed 
alongside,  but  does  not  overlie  and  hide,  its 
ancient  character.  Its  old  self  is  still  there, 
always  to  be  felt  and  seen,  and  ever  about 
the  old  city  there  cling  historic  associations 
which  throw  around  it  a  charm  that  few  can 
fail  to   feel. 

The  aroma  of  its  life  is  in  its  past :  and  when 
we  recall  the  fact  that  it  is  more  than  forty 
years  older  than  Jamestown  ;  that  it  was  a  com- 
paratively old  town  when  the  Puritans  landed 

557 


558 


St.  Augustine 


at  Plymouth  ;  that  here,  for  the  first  time,  iso- 
lated within  the  shadows  of  the  primeval  forest, 
the  civilization  of  the  old  world  made  its  abid- 
ing-place,  where    all   was    new   and   wild   and 


THE  OLD  CITY  GATE. 


strange  ;  that  this  now  so  insignificant  place 
was  the  key  to  a  possible  empire  ;  that  on  its 
occupation  or  destruction  rested  French  or 
Spanish  domination  ;  that  it  was  a  vice-provin- 
cial court,  boasted  of  its  Addantados,  men  of 
the  first  mark  and  note,  of  its  Royal  Exchequer, 
its  public  functionaries,  its  brave  men-at-arms  ; 
that  its  proud  name.  La  sieviprc  fiel  cttidad  de 
San  Agustin   ("  the   ever-faithful    city   of   St. 


St.  Augustine  559 

Augustine "  ),  was  conferred  by  its  monarch  ; 
that  here  the  cross  was  first  planted  ;  that  from 
the  Papal  chair  itself  rescripts  were  addressed 
to  its  governors  ;  that  the  first  great  efforts  at 
Christianizing  the  fierce  native  tribes  pro- 
ceeded from  this  spot  ;  that  the  martyrs*  blood 
was  first  here  shed  ;  that  around  these  walls 
the  clash  of  arms  and  the  battle-cry  have  been 
heard,  we  may  well  feel  a  greater  interest  in 
this  ancient  city  than  is  possessed  by  mere 
brick  and  mortar,  rapid  growth  or  unwonted 
prosperity. 

The  first  European  who  visited  this  spot,  so 
far  as  we  know,  was  that  sturdy  cavalier,  Juan 
Ponce  de  Leon,  who  in  1 5  1 3  came  to  Florida 
in  search  of  the  fountain  of  youth,  but,  failing 
to  find  it,  gave  to  Florida  its  name  and  perpet- 
uated his  own  by  the  romantic  quest  upon 
which  he  came. 

More  than  fifty  years  afterwards,  St.  Augus- 
tine was  visited  by  Menendez  with  a  Spanish 
fleet,  and  a  permanent  settlement  was  made. 
Admiral  Coligny,  a  distinguished  leader  of  the 
Huguenot  party  in  France,  harassed  by  the 
religious  animosities  which  prevailed  between 
the  Roman  Catholics  and  Protestants,  con- 
ceived the  idea  of  planting  a    colony    of    his 


56o 


St.  Augustine 


co-religionists  in  America,  both  for  their  protec- 
tion and  to  extend  the  possessions  of  France 
into  the  new  world.  For  this  purpose  a  small 
fleet  was  equipped  in  the  year  1562,  and  sent 
out  under  the  command  of  Captain  Jean  Ri- 

baut.  The  expe- 
dition came  up- 
on the  coast  of 
Florida,  near  St. 
Augustine,  the 
harbor  of  which 
they  named  the 
River  of  Dol- 
phins, because  of 
the  many  por- 
poises they  saw 
there.  They 
then  entered  the 
m  o  u  t  h  of  the 
River  St.  John's, 
planted  a  column  of  stone,  and  passed  on 
to  the  coast  of  South  Carolina,  where  they 
built  a  small  fort  called  Charlesfort.  Leaving 
there  a  small  orarrison,  Ribaut  returned  to 
France,  intending  soon  to  return  with  a  larger 
force. 

Circumstances  prevented   his  return,  and  it 


PEDRO    MENENDEZ    DE    AVILES,    FOUNDER 
OF  ST.    AUGUSTINE. 


St.  Augustine  561 

was  not  until  1564  that  Laudonniere,  with 
three  vessels  and  a  larg-er  number  of  Hu^ue- 
nots,  came  prepared  to  make  a  permanent  set- 
tlement of  the  country.  He  also  came  first  to 
the  River  of  Dolphins,  and  thence  to  the  St. 
John's,  called  by  them  the  River  May,  and 
after  some  delay  in  further  explorations  of  the 
coast  decided  to  plant  his  settlement  on  the 
St.  John's,  where  he  constructed  a  fort  which 
he  named  Fort  Caroline,  on  the  south  bank  of 
the  river,  a  few  miles  from  its  mouth.  The 
colony,  however,  failed  to  obtain  from  the  soil 
or  the  sea  sufficient  food,  and  were  about 
abandoning  the  country  in  the  following-  year, 
when  Ribaut  arrived  with  a  larger  and  better 
class  of  people,  to  reinforce  Laudonniere's 
settlement. 

In  the  meantime,  the  Spanish  sovereign  had 
learned  of  these  Huguenot  expeditions,  and  of 
their  encroachment  upon  a  territory  which  he 
claimed  for  Spain  by  right  of  discovery,  and 
at  once  set  on  foot  an  expedition  under  the 
command  of  Pedro  Menendez  to  drive  out  of 
Florida  the  French  Huguenots,  w^hose  faith 
he  regarded  with  detestation. 

Both  the   French  and  Spanish  fleets  came 

upon  the  coast    of    Florida    about    the    same 

36 


562 


St.  Augustine 


time.  Ribaut  passed  St.  Augustine  and 
anchored  off  St.  John's  bar.  Menendez  fol- 
lowed and  exchanged  a  few  shots  with  Ribaut's 
vessels,    and    retired    to    the     harbor    of    St. 


OLD    FORGE. 


Augustine,  where  he  landed  his  forces,  occupy- 
ing an  Indian  village  called  Selooe,  which 
seems  to  have  stood  about  half  a  mile  north  of 
the  fort,  upon  a  tidal  creek. 

Ribaut,  learniny:  of  the  landing*-  of  Menendez's 


St.  Augustine  563 

forces,  determined  to  attack  the  Spanish 
vessels,  which  lay  outside  because  of  the  low 
water  on  the  bar,  and  thus  cut  off  the  Spanish 
force  from  molesting  the  French  at  Fort  Caro- 
line. He  had  hardly  put  to  sea  before  he 
encountered  a  terrible  storm,  by  which  his 
vessels  were  driven  down  the  coast  and  cast 
ashore, 

Menendez,  being  apprised  of  Ribaut's  move- 
ments, and  satisfied  that  the  French  vessels 
would  be  either  driven  afar  or  wrecked  on  the 
coast,  determined  to  take  the  initiative,  march 
across  the  country  and  surprise  Fort  Caroline 
in  its  weakened  condition,  during  Ribaut's  ab- 
sence. Guided  by  natives  familiar  with  the 
country,  he  traversed  the  forty  miles  of  low, 
flat  woods,  and  reaching  his  destination  in  the 
early  morning  made  a  sudden  attack  upon  the 
French  fort  and  easily  captured  it.  Moved  by 
a  morbid  hatred  of  the  French  Protestants,  as 
intruders  on  the  Spanish  territory,  and  still 
more  as  enemies  to  his  faith  and  hence  en- 
titled to  neither  mercy  nor  compassion,  most 
of  them  were  slaugfhtered  in  the  onset,  and 
Menendez  caused  his  prisoners  to  be  hung  on 
the  neighboring  trees,  with  an  inscription  that 
he  did  this  to  them  "  not  as  Frenchmen,  but  as 


564  St.  Augustine 

Lutherans."  Some  twenty  or  more  escaped 
with  Laudonniere  to  two  vessels  at  the  mouth 
of  the  river  and  thence  to  France. 

All  of  Ribaut's  vessels  havins:  been  wrecked 
along  the  coast  between  St.  Augustine  and 
Canaveral,  although  most  of  the  people  es- 
caped with  their  lives,  they  had  no  means  of 
reofaininor  Fort  Caroline  or  of  leavinof  the 
coast  for  any  point  of  refuge.  Wrecked  and 
wretched,  they  moved  northward  along  the 
coast,  and  at  Matanzas,  an  inlet  twenty  miles 
below  St.  Augustine,  they  were  met  by  Men- 
endez,  who  had  returned  from  Fort  Caroline, 
and  was  informed  of  their  shipwreck  and 
condition  b)'  natives  living  along  the  coast. 
Ribaut  asked  safe-conduct,  but  Menendez  re- 
fused all  overtures  for  terms  of  surrender, 
requiring  unconditional  submission  to  his  will 
or  clemency.  The  result  was  that,  as  fast  as 
the  French  were  brought  across  the  inlet  in 
small  parties,  he  directed  that  they  should  all 
be  killed.  This  sad  tragedy  is  commemorated 
by  the  name,  still  borne  by  the  inlet,  Matanzas, 
the  place  of  slaughter. 

The  French  Huguenots  thus  disposed  of, 
Menendez  proceeded  to  lay  out  and  build  his 
proposed  city.     A  castle  and  religious  house 


566  St.  Augustine 

were  first  constructed,  the  castle  as  a  protec- 
tion against  the  Indians,  or  the  French,  should 
others  come.  The  castle  or  fort  was  built  of 
the  trunks  of  trees,  in  an  octagonal  shape,  near 
the  present  fort,  and  the  dwellings  were  located 
in  the  southern  portion  of  the  peninsula  on 
which  the  present  city  stands.  The  shoalness 
of  the  water  on  the  bar  was  a  protection  against 
an  attack  by  sea,  and  the  bay  on  one  side,  and 
the  Maria  Sanchez  Creek  and  St.  Sebastian 
River  on  the  other  made  the  town  secure 
against  an  attack  by  land. 

Menendez,  having  secured  the  safety  of  his 
settlement,  returned  to  Spain,  little  dreaming 
of  the  retribution  soon  to  fall  upon  his  forti- 
fied posts  on  the  St.  John's  from  the  hand  of 
Dominic  de  Gourgues,  who,  with  a  force  of 
some  two  hundred  and  fifty  men,  left  France 
in  1568,  with  the  purpose  of  avenging  the 
massacre  of  his  countrymen.  Arriving  on  the 
coast  in  April,  he  passed  the  mouth  of  the  St. 
John's  and  brought  his  three  vessels  into  Cum- 
berland Sound.  Here,  communicating  with 
the  Indians,  whom  he  found  very  hostile  to 
the  Spaniards,  he  gathered  a  large  force  of 
Indian  allies,  attacked  the  Spanish  forts  at 
the  mouth   of  the  St.  John's  River,    captured 


St  Augustine  567 

them  after  but  little  resistance,  and  then 
marched  against  Fort  Caroline,  changed  to 
San  Matteo.  Although  the  fort  was  well- gar- 
risoned, the  Spanish  commander,  believing  that 
he  was  surrounded  by  a  superior  force,  fled, 
and  De  Gourgues  captured  the  fort,  meeting 
with  little  resistance.  In  retaliation  for  the 
massacre  of  the  Huguenots,  he  hung  his  pris- 
oners to  the  same  trees,  with  the  inscription, 
burned  upon  a  plank,  that  he  did  this  "  not  as 
to  Spaniards,  but  as  to  traitors,  thieves,  and 
murderers." 

No  further  attempt  was  made  by  the  French 
to  colonize  the  southern  Atlantic  coast,  and 
thus  ended  the  sad  beginnings  of  what,  under 
other  circumstances,  might  have  proved  the  es- 
tablishment of  French  colonization  along  our 
whole  Atlantic  coast. 

The  annals  of  St.  Augustine  during  the  re- 
mainder of  the  life  of  Menendez  present  only 
the  usual  vicissitudes  of  new  settlements,  the 
alternation  of  want  and  supply  and  occasional 
disaffections  and  annoyances  by  unruly  soldiers 
or  hostile  Indians. 

Unluckily  for  the  little  city.  Sir  Francis 
Drake,  in  1586,  returning  from  the  coasts  of 
South    America,   discovered,    in    passing,    the 


568  St.  Auf^ustine 


Spanish  lookout  on  Anastasia  Island,  at  the 
entrance  of  the  harbor.  Having  sent  some 
boats  in,  a  town  across  the  ba)'  was  discovered. 
Durinor  the  nigflit,  a  fifer  came  out  to  the  Heet 
playing  the  Prince  of  Orange  march,  and  in- 
formed Sir  Francis  that  the  Spaniards  had 
abandoned  their  fort.  This  report  proved  to 
be  true,  and  Sir  Francis  found  that  in  their 
haste  they  had  left  behind  some  ten  thousand 
dollars  in  the  treasury  chest.  Being  fired 
upon  by  some  of  the  inhabitants,  he  burned 
the  town. 

An  engraved  plan  of  Drake's  descent  upon 
St.  Augustine,  published  in  England  upon  his 
return,  represents  an  octagonal  fort  between 
two  streams,  and  at  the  distance  of  half  a  mile 
another  stream,  and  beyond  that  the  town, 
with  a  lookout  and  church  and  monastery. 
The  plan  shows  three  squares  lengthwise,  and 
four  in  breadth,  with  gardens  on  the  west  side. 
The  relative  position  of  the  town  with  refer- 
ence to  the  entrance  to  the  harbor  is  correctly 
shown,  and  there  seems  no  sufficient  o-round 
to  doubt  the  identity  of  the  present  city  with 
the  original  location. 

The  province  was  then  under  the  govern- 
ment of  Don  Pedro  Menendez,  a  nephew  of  the 


570  St.  Augustine 

Adelantado,  who,  after  the  departure  of  the 
Enehsh  fleet  under  Drake,  beiran,  with  some 
assistance  from  Havana,  to  rebuild  the  town. 

A  body  of  F"ranciscan  missionaries  came 
to  Florida  in  1592,  and  established  missions 
among-  the  Indians  at  various  points  along  the 
coast  and  in  the  interior.  For  a  time  consid- 
erable apparent  success  attended  these  efforts  ; 
but  a  few  years  later  a  concerted  attack  was 
made  by  the  Indians  upon  the  missionaries, 
several  of  whom  were  massacred  at  their  posts. 
Hostilities  became  active  in  1638  between  the 
Appalachian  Indians  and  the  Spanish  settle- 
ments upon  the  coast.  The  Indians  were  soon 
subdued,  large  numbers  were  brought  to  St. 
Augustine,  and  as  a  punishment  for  their  out- 
break they  were  forced  to  labor— it  is  said  for 
sixty  years  —  upon  the  public  works  and  the 
fortifications,  in  quarrying  and  transporting  the 
coquina  stone  from  Anastasia  Island. 

About  this  period  the  English  settlements 
in  Carolina  were  established,  which  was  con- 
sidered an  encroachment  upon  the  territory 
claimed  by  the  Spanish  Crown  by  virtue  of 
discovery  and  occupation.  Unfriendly  feelings 
speedily  grew  up  between  the  English  and 
Spanish  colonies,  embittered  by  difference  of 


St  Au2:ustine  571 


'fe 


religious  faith  and  an  inherited  rancor  on  both 
sides. 

In  1648,  St.  Augustine  is  described  as  hav- 
ing more  than  three  hundred  householders, 
and  containing  a  flourishing  monastery  of  the 
Order  of  St.  Francis,  with  fifty  brothers  in  res- 
idence, all  zealous  for  the  conversion  of  the 
Indians.  The  parish  Church  was  built  of 
wood. 

But  the  poor  little  city  was  destined  not  to 
rest  in  peace.  In  1665,  one  hundred  years 
from  its  foundation,  it  was  visited  by  Captain 
Davis,  an  English  buccaneer  and  free-booter, 
of  a  class  then  numerous  in  those  seas.  He 
landed  his  forces  near  the  city,  marched  directly 
upon  the  town,  looted  and  plundered  it  with- 
out meeting,  it  is  said,  with  any  resistance  from 
the  Spanish  garrison  in  the  fort,  which  num- 
bered some  two  hundred  men-at-arms.  The 
easy  capture  of  the  town  by  this  casual  free- 
booter indicated  the  necessity  for  stronger 
fortifications  and  better  means  of  resistance. 

The  Castle  of  San  Marco  had  been  com- 
menced and  partly  constructed  by  the  labor 
of  the  Appalachian  Indians,  no  doubt  very 
slowly  and  unwillingly  rendered.  Don  Juan 
Marquez  de  Cabrera,  having  been  appointed 


5/2  St.  Augustine 

Governor  in  1681,  at  once  applied  himself  to 
the  completion  of  the  castle  and  other  forti- 
fications. 

The  English  settlements  in  Carolina  con- 
tinued to  create  much  dissatisfaction.  The 
Spanish  Crown  claimed  the  whole  Atlantic 
coast  as  their  province  of  Florida,  and  it  is  so 
designated  on  ancient  maps,  even  including 
Delaware  and  Pennsylvania,  then  being  settled 
by  Penn  and  his  colonists.  An  attack  was 
made  in  1681  on  a  Scotch  and  English  settle- 
ment at  Port  Royal  by  three  armed  galleys 
sent  out  from  St.  Augustine.  Many  of  the 
English  colonists  lost  their  lives,  and  much 
property  was  destroyed,  which  later  led  to 
bitter  retaliation. 

Menendez,  by  his  contract  with  the  Spanish 
Crown,  had  been  authorized  to  take  to  Florida 
five  hundred  negro  slaves,  but  did  not  avail 
himself  of  the  privilege,  and  it  was  not  until 
1687  that  one  Captain  de  Aila  brought  the 
first  Spanish  negro  slave  into  Florida.  Later 
the  inhabitants  of  Carolina  complained  that 
the  authorities  at  St.  Augustine  seduced  and 
harbored  their  runaway  slaves,  which  was  not 
denied,  but  justified  by  the  claim  that  they  did 
it  for  the  eood  of  the  souls  of  the  negroes. 


574  St.  Augustine 

Hostilities  havinij  broken  out  between  Ene- 
land  and  Spain,  and  a  bitter  feeling  already 
existing  between  the  English  in  Carolina  and 
the  Spaniards  in  Florida,  Governor  Moore,  of 
South  Carolina,  led  an  expedition  into  Florida 
in  1 702,  and  with  a  considerable  force  made 
an  attack  upon  St.  Augustine  by  sea  and  by 
land.  He  easily  captured  the  town,  and  the  in- 
habitants retired  to  the  fort,  where  they  were 
besieged  for  over  a  month.  For  want  of 
heavier  guns,  Moore  was  unable  to  capture  the 
fort,  and  had  to  retire ;  not,  however,  till  he 
had  committed  the  useless  barbarity  of  burn- 
ing the  town.  Upon  the  departure  of  the 
English  forces,  the  inhabitants  gladly  set  to 
work  to  repair  or  rebuild  their  ruined  homes. 

About  this  period  the  building  of  a  sea  wall 
Avas  begun,  to  protect  the  town  from  the  en- 
croachment of  the  sea,  and  leisurely  proceeded 
for  many  years.  Portions  of  this  ancient  wall 
may  yet  be  seen  within  the  present  wall,  which 
was  built  by  the  United  States  after  the  change 
of  flag^s. 

In  1704,  Governor  Moore  again  appeared 
before  the  old  city,  and  partially  destroyed  its 
habitations,  but  was  unable  to  make  any  im- 
pression on  the  stalwart  castle.      Bad  feelings 


St.  Augustine  575 

were  reciprocally  held  for  many  years  by  the 
English  in  Carolina  and  the  Spaniards  in 
Florida. 

In  the  meantime,  another  English  settlement 
having  been  made  in  Georgia  by  General  Ogle- 
thorpe, the  English  drew  nearer  to  Florida 
and  occupied  a  country  still  claimed  by  the 
Spanish  Crown.  The  Spanish  Governor  noti- 
fied Oglethorpe  to  depart,  and  gave  indica- 
tions of  a  forcible  attempt  to  dispossess  the 
new  colony.  Oglethorpe  determined  to  be 
beforehand  with  the  Spaniards,  and  organized 
an  expedition  made  up  from  his  own  colony 
and  Carolina,  and  proceeded  to  invest  St. 
Augustine  by  sea  and  by  land.  The  town 
was  now,  however,  better  fortified,  and  the 
Castle  had  been  greatly  strengthened.  Ogle- 
thorpe's batteries  on  Anastasia  Island  were  too 
light  to  make  an  impression  upon  the  walls  of 
San  Marco,  the  soft  rock  imbedding  his  balls 
without  injury.  The  siege  lasted  thirty-eight 
days,  but,  being  unable  to  reduce  the  Castle, 
Oglethorpe  at  last  gave  up  the  attempt,  and 
withdrew  his  forces.  The  marks  of  his  can- 
nonade may  still  be  seen  on  the  eastern  walls 
of  the  fort. 

The  repeated  outbreaks  of  the  Indians  and 


576  St.  Augustine 

the  inroads  of  the  EngHsh  had  discouraged  all 
attempts  at  cultivation  in  the  vicinity,  and  the 
city  remained  little  more  than  a  garrison  town, 
until,  by  the  Treaty  of  1 762,  Florida  was 
ceded  to  the  English  Crown.  The  Spanish  in- 
habitants nearly  all  left  with  the  garrison  for 
Cuba.  The  English  flag  was  raised  upon  the 
Castle  of  San  Marco,  and  an  English  Governor, 
an  Encrlish  crarrison  and  Enirlish  colonists 
came  in  to  occupy  the  city  and  the  province. 
Judicious  measures  were  at  once  taken  to  ad- 
vance the  interest  and  growth  of  the  city  and 
the  two  Floridas.  Bounties  were  offered  for 
the  production  of  indigo  and  naval  stores,  and 
a  considerable  commerce  at  once  grew  up. 
Roads  were  opened,  and  settlements  made 
in  the  interior  and  on  the  coast.  Durinof  the 
twenty  years  of  English  occupation  extensive 
barracks  were  erected  in  the  city,  which  was 
much  built  up  and  improved  ;  and,  could  it  have 
remained  under  the  English  flag,  Florida 
would  have  been  as  well  populated  and  as 
prosperous  as  the  other  colonies  of  England  in 
America.  The  acknowledgment  of  the  inde- 
pendence of  her  other  colonies,  which  had 
organized  a  confederacy  against  her  rule,  ren- 
dered Florida  of  little  consequence  as  a  small 


St  Augustine  577 

and  isolated  colony,  and,  in  1783,  England 
ceded  Florida  back  to  Spain. 

As  a  consequence  of  this  recession  and 
change  of  government,  the  English  inhabitants 
nearly  all  left  for  Carolina  and  Georgia  or  the 
British  West  India  Islands.  St.  Auofustine 
fell  back  into  its  old  condition  of  a  garrison 
town  ;  the  works  of  improvement  begun  by 
the  English  were  abandoned,  and  the  old  city 
renewed  its  sleepy  existence.  There  was  in- 
deed some  attempt  by  land  grants  to  induce 
immigration,  but  with  no  great  result. 

So  things  went  until  181 2,  when,  fearing  that 
England  intended  to  acquire  Florida,  which 
would  be  a  menace  to  the  interests  of  the 
United  States,  President  Monroe,  under  a 
resolution  of  Congress,  ordered  troops  into 
Florida.  St.  Augustine  was  threatened,  but 
not  conquered  or  reduced.  The  country  was 
raided,  plantations  were  devastated,  and  much 
injury  done  before  the  United  States  troops 
were  recalled.  Finally,  Spain  was  worried  into 
an  agreement  to  sell  Florida  to  the  United 
States  for  a  pecuniary  compensation. 

In  the  year  182 1,  the  Spanish  flag,  planted 
at  St.  Augustine  in  1565,  was  hauled  down 
finally,  and  the  Stars  and  Stripes  waved  over 


578  St.  Augustine 

the  Castle  of  San  Marco,  which  by  a  senseless 
order  was  renamed  Fort  Marion,  which  name 
it  now  bears.  The  Spanish  inhabitants  gen- 
erally remained,  and  their  descendants  still 
constitute  the  larger  portion  of  the  resident 
population  of  the  ancient  city.  Under  Amer- 
ican rule  people  from  the  adjoining  States 
came  in  and  began  to  establish  settlements, 
but  the  Indian  tribes  still  held  possession  of 
the  largest  portion  of  the  territory. 

In  1835,  the  Seminole  Indian  War  broke 
out;  for  seven  years  hostilities  were  maintained, 
and  it  was  not  until  1842  that  peace  was  re- 
stored. St.  Augustine  suffered  with  the  rest 
of  the  territory,  and  little  progress  was  made 
in  population  or  prosperity.  It  still  remained 
the  leading  town,  though  that  did  not  mean 
much,  and  when  the  war  was  over  other  towns, 
notably  Jacksonville,  grew  into  importance. 
Some  invalids,  not  many,  came  for  a  winter's 
sojourn,  but  there  was  little  change  until  the 
Civil  War.  At  an  early  day  Commodore  Du- 
pont  came  into  the  harbor  with  his  armed 
vessels,  and  the  town  was  quietly  surrendered, 
supplied  with  a  garrison,  and  went  into  an  en- 
forced apathy  from  which  it  never  emerged 
until  the  war  was  over. 


S^'^o  St.  Augustine 

After  1865,  a  new  era  sprang  up  for  St.  Au- 
gustine ;  railroad  communication  was  opened 
to  Tocoi,  on  the  St.  John's,  and,  later  on,  to 
Jacksonville.  Winter  visitors  began  to  come 
in  large  numbers,  and  hotels  on  a  large  scale 
were  built.  Finally,  Mr.  H.  M.  Flagler  be- 
came interested  in  the  old  city,  and  built  the 
famous  and  most  beautiful  Ponce  de  Leon,  the 
Alcazar,  and  the  Cordova,  with  many  other 
handsome  buildings.  He  purchased  and  im- 
proved the  railroad,  filled  in  the  marshes  of 
the  St.  Sebastian,  and  erected  a  new  city 
alongside  of  the  old.  The  population  has 
been  doubled,  and  its  attractions  have  greatly 
increased.  A  railway  system  has  been  estab- 
lished, taking  in  the  whole  east  coast  of  Florida 
as  far  down  as  Miami,  with  connecting  lines 
of  steamers  to  Key  West,  Havana  and  Nassau. 
Few  towns  can  now  boast  of  more  attractive 
residences,  and  none  of  such  mao^nificent 
hotels  for  the  solace  of  the  traveler.  After  a 
varied  existence  of  over  three  centuries,  the 
ancient  city  has  put  on  a  new  life  of  elegance 
and  prosperity. 

Dear  old  city  !  how  many  sweet  associations 
it  has  for  the  many  thousands  who  have  visited 
it  in  these  past  years  !      How  many  walks  on 


St. 


Augustine 


581 


the  sea  wall ;  how  many  boat  rides  on  its  placid 
waters  ;  how  many  excursions  into  its  meander- 
ing creeks,  and  strolls  along  the  beach  of 
Anastasia  Island  ;  how  many  cozy  corners  in 
the  loggia  of  the  Ponce  de  Leon,  and  the 
corridors  of  the  Alcazar,  come  at  the  call  of 
memory  ! 

The  gray  and  time-worn  old  Castle  of  San 
Marco,  with  its  gloomy  portals  and  dark  cham- 
bers, seems  in  a  moment  to  carry  the  visitor 
back  three  centuries  to  another  people  and 
another  age.  People  may  come,  and  people 
may  go,  but  the  old  Castle  will  remain  for 
centuries,  a  memorial  to  the  long-past  age  of 
the  Spanish  monarchy  in  America. 


INDEX 


Academy,  the  French,  170 

Acropolis,  the,  165 

Act  of  Secession,  165 

Adair,  address  of,  340 

Adams,  John,  87  ;  and  the  na- 
tional capital,  125  ;  quoted, 
88,  128,  148,  204 

Adams,  J.  Q.,  93,  140 

Adams,  Louisa  J.,  93 

Adams,  Mrs.  John,  128,  135 

Adams,  Samuel,  and  the  Stamp 
Act,  196 

Addison's  Cato,  269 

Advance,  the,  246 

Advertiser,  the  Edgefield,  xxviii, 
note 

Agassiz,  273 

Alabama,  settlement  of,  356  ; 
see  also  Mobile  and^  Mont- 
gomery ;      Sevier    buried    in, 

463 
Alabama  Convention,  402 
Alabama  Platform,  399 
Alabama  Staan,  the,  392 
"Alabama  Town,"  382,  3S4 
Albemarle,  the,  250,  251 
Alexandria     and    the     national 

capital,  116 
Alferez  Real,  the,  424 


Algonquins,  lOI,  I02 
Alibamons,  335,  340 
Alice,  the,  366 
Allan,  John,  174 
Allen,  James  Lane,  534 
Allen,  Rev.  Bennett,  80 
Allston,  Washington,  275 
Almonester,    Don   Andres,  424, 

425. 

America,  the,  22 

American  Notes,   Dickens's,  521 

Anacostan,  loi 

Anacostia,  loi,  146 

Anacostian  River,  105 

Anastasia,  570,  575 

Andersen,  Hans,  quoted,  68 

Anderson,  Colonel,  371 

Anderson,  D.  C,  362 

Anderson,  Gen.  Robt.,  505 

Anderson,  Mary,  534 

Ann,  the,  300,  324 

Annalist,  the,  455 

Annapolis,  12,  75,  79  ;  Sara  An- 
drew Shaferon,  47-73  ;  settle- 
ment, 47-53  ;  the  first  church, 
53-56  ;  the  first  school,  57  ; 
the  State  House,  58  ;  the  Rev- 
olution, 59  ;  historic  homes, 
61-66  ;  U.  S.  Naval  Academy, 

68-73 
Annapolis  Convention,  the,    20I 


583 


584 


Index 


Anne  Arundel,  52,  53 

Anstill's  night  ride,  355 

Antietam,  battle  of,  94 

Antigua,  276 

Apalaches,  341 

Appalachian  Indians,  570,  571 

Arhulhnot,  290 

Arizona,  478 

Ari,  the,  i,  50 

Arkansas,  335  ;   see  Little  Rock 

Arkansas  Indians,  539,  540 

Arlington,  14S 

Armstrong,  James,  455 

Arnold,  Benedict,  in  Richmond, 

161 
Arthur,  President,  320 
Asbury,  Bishop,  quoted,  82 
Ashe,  Col.  John,  238,  240-242 
"Ashland,"  505,  531 
Ashley,  Chester,  548,  549,  552 
Ashley  River,  251,  252 
Athens,  494 
Atlanta,  Ga.,  xvi 
Atlanta,  the,  324 
Audubon,  John  J.,  273,  504,  518 
Augusta,  Ga.,  xxv 
Avar,  tomb  of,  413 


B 


Bacon,  Nathaniel,  164,  191,  192 

Bahamas,  the,  251 

Bainbridge,  Peter,  83 

Baker's  Creek,  battle  at,  443 

Baldwin,  M.  J.  D.,  360 

Baltimore,  xix,  xxix,  79,  108, 
130,  325.  436;  St.  George  L. 
Sioussat  on,  1-45  ;  early 
towns,  5  ;  the  Act  of  1 709,  7  ; 
union  with  Jonas  town,  8  ; 
1709-1754,  10";  growth  of  for- 
eign trade,  12  ;  the  French  and 
Indian  War,  14-18  ;  before 
the  Revolution,  18-21  ;  in  the 
Revolution,  21-28  ;  Kennedy's 
description  of  old,  28-32  ; 
growth  before  the  War  of  1812, 
32-36;   in  the  War   of    1812, 


36-3S  ;  internal  improvements, 
38  ;  divided  during  Civil  War, 
39-41  ;   higher  life  of,  41-45 

Baltimore,  Lords,  1-3,  21,  51,  52 

Baltimore,  the,  11 

Baltimore  &  Ohio  R.  R.,  39 

Bancroft,  George,  70 ;  quoted, 
199,  264 

Barbadoes,  229,  251 

Barbe,  Marie,  358 

Barnett,  Rev.  John,  233 

Barton  Academy,  359 

Bartow,  Francis  S.,  322 

Bartram's  Botanical  Expedition, 
344 

Bas  Fonde,  330 

Bassett,  213 

Bate,  Gen.  Wm.  B.,  498 

Bath,  N.  C,  223,  224 

Bathori,  S.,  154 

Battle  Monument,  18 

Bayliss,  Mrs.,  141 

Bazares,  exploration  of,  330 

Beall,  Joseph,  S3 

Beall,  Samuel,  83 

Beatty,  Thomas,  S3 

Beaudrat,  execution  of,  339 

Beaufort,  N.  C,  223 

Beckly,  J.  J.,  208 

Bell,  John,  491 

Bell  House,  169 

Bellimi,  Charles,  214 

Belvidere,  35 

Benjamin,  S.  G.  W.,  275 

Benton,  T.  H.,  464,  490 

Beresford,  Richard,  271 

Berkeley,  Sir  Wm.,  164,  191, 
192 

Bernhard,  Duke  of  Saxe- Wei- 
mar,358 

Bertrand,  357,  358 

Bethesda,  Ga.,  311 

Bethlehem,  26 

Beulah,  Augusta  Evans's,  362 

Bienville,  332,  333,  335,  338, 
340-342,   357,  416,  418,  424 

Big  Black,  battle  at,  443,  444 

Big  Rock,  541 


Index 


585 


"  Big  Salt  Lick,"  483 

Bigbee,  344 

Bill  of  Rights,  204 

Biloxi,  332,  338,  417,  434 

Black  Beard,  230 

Bladensburg,  battle  of,  132 

Blair,  John,  214 

Blair,  Wm.,  83 

Blakeley,  354,  3^9 

Bland,  Richard,  199 

Bledsoe's  Lick,  479 

Bloody  Marsh,  316 

Blount,  Gov.Wm.,  451,  453-4-55, 

458,  462,  463 
Blount,  Mary  Grainger,  454 
Blount  College,  458,  461 
Boiling,  Jane,  159 
Bonnet,  Stead,  230,  231,  258 
Boone,  Daniel,    480.     486,  504, 

508,  509 
Booth,  J.  B.,  363 
Bordley,  16 
Bordley  House,  63 
Borland,  Solon,  548 
Boston,  21,  240,  315 
Botetourt,  Lord,  207 
Boucher,  Rev.  Jonathan,  19 
Bourbon  County  organized,  437 
Bourbons,  the,  357 
"  Boz,"  see  Dickens 
Braddock,  General,    14,   78,   79, 

115 

Bragg,  General,  470 

Bray,  Rev.  Dr.,  54 

Brewton,  Miles,  260 

Brice  Mansion,  62 

British,  attack  Washington,  131- 
136;  at  Wilmington,  N.  C, 
242  ;  besiege  Charleston,  264, 
266  ;  attack  Fort  Bowyer,  355; 
in  the  Southwest,  5 10-51 2 

Brooklyn,  the,  370 

Brooks,  Walter,  440 

Brown,    Governor,    of   Georgia, 

323 
Brownlow,  Wm.  G.,  466-469 
Brunswick,  N.  C,  223,  232-234, 

239,  242 


Buchanan,  Admiral,  371 
Buchanan,  Dr.  George,  40 
Buell,  General,  496,  498 
Buford,  Colonel,  quoted,  402 
Bunker  Hill,  battle  of,  315 
Burgoyne's  surrender,  511 
Burke,   Edmund,  316  ;    quoted, 

286 
Burnside  at  Knoxville,  470,  472 
Burr,  Aaron,  at  Richmond,  174; 
capture  of,  353  ;  at  Nashville, 
492  ;  at  Louisville,  530 
Burwell,  Hon.  Lewis,  190 
Burwell,  Lucy,  190 
Bush  River,  5,  6 
Byrd,  Col.  Wm.,  155,  I57 
Byrd,     Col.     William     Evelyn, 
founds    Richmond,     156-158 ; 
visits  Edenton,  224 
Byrd,  Evelyn,  158 
Byron  quoted,  509 


Cabildo,  the  Spanish,  428,  431 
Cabot  discovers  North  America, 

151 

Cairo,  111.,  335.  361,  52i 

Calamata,  154 

Caldwell,  Joshua  W.,  on  Knox- 
ville, 449-475 

Calhoun,  John  C,  140,  464 

Calvert,  Cecilius,  21 

Calvert,  Charles,  78  ;  quoted,  2 

Calvert,  Frederick,  78,  79 

Calverts,  the,  48-50 

Campbell,  Colonel,  defeats  Gen. 
Robert  Howe,  317 

Campbell,  General,  in  West 
Florida,   346,  347 

Campbell,  John  A.,  362 

Canada,  331,  334 

Canal,  the  Isthmian,  438 

Canby  captures  Blakeley,     372, 

374 
Canoe  Fight,  the,  355 
Cantonment,  the,  356 
Cape  Clear,  320 


586 


Index 


Cape  Fear,  220 

Cape  Hatteras,  220,  262 

Cape  Lookout,  220 

Capitol,  at  Richmond,  1 62-170 

Capitol    the    national,    121-124; 

north    wing    completed,    126 ; 

Ijurned    by    the    t5ritish,    134; 

rebuilt,  137  ;  dome  raised,  142 
Cardross,  Lord,  250 
Carlton,      Hon.       Walter      G., 

quoted,    307 
Carolina,  the,  250,  251 
Carr,  Capt.  John,  38S 
Carr,  Dabney,  igg 
Carrick,  Rev.  Samuel,  461 
Carroll,   Charles,   7,   S,    iS,    40, 

60,  66 
Carroll,  Daniel,  7,  8,  88,  122 
Carrolls,  the,  77,  79 
Carrollton,  66,  79 
Carter,  John,  451 
Cary,  Archibald,  201,  204 
Castle  Garden,    centennial  cele- 
brated at,  269 
Cat  Island,  339 
Cathedral,     the    New    Orleans, 

425,  429,   431 
Caio,    Addison's,    first    rendered 

in  Philadelphia,  269 
Catoctin,  76,  79 
Cavet's  blockhouse,  460 
Cawein,  Madison,  534 
Cayuga,  the,  368 
Cedar  Point  R'y,  359 
Celeste,  Madame,  363 
Census  of  1890,  xv 
Cervera,  256 
Chamberlain,       Gov.      D,      H., 

quoted,    284 
Champion  Hills,  battle  at,  443 
Chandler,  Bishop,  quoted,  310 
Chandler,  Daniel,  362 
Chandler,  Mrs.,  362 
Charles  L,  48,  199 
Charles  IL,  290 
Charleston,     xvi,     xix     et    seq.: 

Yates  Snowden  on,   249—292  ; 

first     permanent     settlement. 


250-252  ;  Spanish  attack  on, 
256-259;  in  1773,  259;  the 
St.  Cecilia  Society,  260 ;  in 
the  Revolution,  262-267  ;  af- 
ter the  Revolution,  267-271  ; 
the  Augustan  Age,  272  ;  eco- 
nomic and  commercial  history 
of,  276-279  ;  in  the  Civil  War, 
279-286  ;  churches  of,  286- 
291 

Charleston  &  Hamburg  R'y  Co., 
xxii 

Charleville,  M.,  478 

Charlton,  R.  M.,  323 

Charpentier's  Battery,  364 

Chase,  Samuel,  40,  88 

Chase  House,  63 

Chastellux  quoted,  162 

Chateaugue,  338 

Chatham  Artillery,  320 

Chaudron,  Madame,  377 

Cheatham,  Frank,  498 

Chellum  Castle  Manor,  120 

Cherokees,  and  Mobile,  336 ; 
Governor  Blount's  treaty  with, 
453  ff-!  ^^'^'^  with,  45S-461, 
479  ;   and  Nashville,  486 

Chesapeake  Bay,  i,  152,  522  ; 
explored  by  Capt.  John  Smith, 
48 

Chesapeake  &  Ohio  Canal,  39 

Chesapeake  &  Ohio  R.  R.,  216 

Cheshire,  Bishop  J.  B.,  on  Wil- 
mington, N.  C.,  219-247 

Chester,  Governor,  344 

Chesterfield  quoted,  310 

Chicago,  xvi 

Chicagou,  413 

Chickamaugas,  4S2 

Chickasabogue,  341 

Chickasaws,  332,  335,  336  340, 
488 

Chimborazo  Park,  181 

Chiskiack,  188,  190 

Choctaws,  332,  334,  336,  339, 
340.  355  ;  name  Mobile  Bay, 
328  ;   Congress  of  1765,  345 

Christ  Church,  Newbern,  233 


Index 


587 


Christmas,  Timrod's,  2SS 
Cincinnati,  517,  521 
Civil  War,  see  individual  towns 
Clark,    George     Rogers,    in    the 

Southwest,  504,  509-513,  516 
Clark,  Joseph,  122 
Clarke,    James    Freeman,    and 

George   Keats,    525 
Clausal,  Comte,  357,   35S 
Clay,  Henry,  140,  464,  490  ;   the 

Hart  statues  of,   168,  531  ;  at 

Mobile,    363  ;     at    Louisville, 

505 
Clayton,  H.  D.,  quoted,  400 
Clerissault,  M.,  164 
Clertiiont^  Fulton's,  357 
Cleveland,   President,  320 
Clifford,  Justice,  550 
Cockburn,  Admiral,  67,  134 
Codorus     Creek    suggested    for 

site    of    national    capital,  ill, 

112 
Coffee,  General,  490 
Coligny,  Admiral,  559 
CoUen,  Williamson,  122 
Colonial     Dames,    Georgia    So- 
ciety of,  307 
Colonial   Exchange,   Charleston, 

286 
Columbia,  S.  C,  xxii 
Columbus,      Christopher,      507  ; 

map  attributed  to,   329 
Compton,  Spencer,  235 
Conewago,  10 
Confederate   Literary    Memorial 

Society,    180 
Confederate      States     Congress, 

165 

Confederation,  the,  400 

Congress,  the  Continental,  106, 
160,  203,  240-242,  313  ;  and 
the  national  capital,  109-116  ; 
makes  appropriation  to  Wil- 
liam and  Mary  College,  216  ; 
of  1765,  345  ;  organizes  terri- 
torial government  of  Missis- 
sippi, 437 

Congressional  Library,  44 


Conogocheague,  108,  116 

Constitution,  of  Virginia,  204  ; 
of  United  States  quoted,  113 

Conventicle  Act  of  1642  in  Vir 
ginia,  51 

Conventions  :  Southern  com- 
mercial conventions,  xxiv.- 
xxvi.  ;  the  Virginia  Con- 
vention of  1775,  160;  Wil- 
liamsburg, 201,  204  ;  Annap- 
olis, 201  ;  of  1787,  201,  453  ; 
Alabama,  402  ;  Tennessee,  462 

Conway,  Henry  W.,  54S 

Copley,  Sir  Lionel,  52 

Copley,  the  artist,  274 

Copus's  Harbor,  10 

"Corn  Island,"  512,  513 

Cornwallis,  surrender  of,  106, 
165,  187,  216  ;  at  Wilmington, 
N.   C,    243 

Cosa,   330 

Cossacks,  the,  136 

Cotton  production  in  the  South, 
xvii,  277 

Cotton  Patch,  y^i 

Cotton  Plant,  the,  357 

Courier- yournal,  Louisville,  534 

Courtenay,  Hon.  W.  A.,  quoted, 

277 

Cowpens,  battle  of,  26,  84 

"  Crackers,"  the,  xvi 

Craig,  Major,  242,  243 

Cranham  Church,  316 

Crawford,  F.  Marion,  166 

Crawford's  statue  of  Washing- 
ton, 166,  168 

Crayon  Papers,  the,  516 

Creeks,  334-336,  339,  355,  381, 
383,  463  ;  war  with  the,  354, 
357  ;  attack  Knoxville,  459- 
461,  486 

Cresap,  Capt.  Michael,  84 

Crisp,  Speaker,  363 

Crittenden,  548,  552 

"  Croftown,"  346 

Cromwell,  199,  468 

Cuba,  346  ;  war  in,  376 

Cummins,  E.,  54S 


588 


Index 


•Cummins,  W.,  548 
Cushman,  Charlotte,  363 
Custis,  "  Jacky,"  19 


Dabney,  Virginius,  quoted,  249 
Dahlgren     attacks     Charleston, 

290 
Dargan,  E.  S.,  362 
Darnell,  John,  83 
Darwin,  Charles,  272 
*'  Daughters    of    the    American 

Revolution,"  465 
D'Aubant,  Madame,  340 
Dauphine  Island,  328,  330,  332, 

334,  336,  338-   341,  345,  346, 

356.  359,  371 
Davidson  Academy,  489 
Davion  on  the  Mississippi,  334 
Davis,  Capt.,  571 
Davis,  George,  quoted,  220 
Davis,  Jefferson,   180,  364,  440, 

506,  532  ;  monument  to,  178  ; 

at  Montgomery,  394  ;  inaugu- 
ration of,  40S 
de  Aila,  Capt.,  572 
Dean,  Julia,  363 
Dearborn  Island,  136 
de  Beaurepaire,  170 
De  Bouf  s  Revie~ii>^  xix 
de  Cabrera,  571 
de  Charlevoix,   Father,    quoted, 

540 
Declaration    of     Independence, 

87,  147,  201,  203,  204,  270 
Declaration   of   Rights  of  1776, 

204 
Defense,  the,  22 
de  Gourgnes,  Dominic,  566 
De  Graffenreid,  228 
De  Kalb,  Baron,  60 
de  la  Harpe,  Bernard,  541 
de  Lauzun,  Due,  24 
Delaware  River  and  the  national 

capital.  III,  112 
de  Leon,  Juan  Ponce,  559 
De  Leon,  T.  C,  377 


de  Luna,  Tristan,  330 

de  Lusser,  Madame,  341 

De  Monbreun,  Timothy,  479 

de  Navarro,  Mary  Anderson,  534 

Denbigh,  the,  366 

de  Rosset,  Louis,  236 

de  Rosset,  Moses  John,  236,  238 

Desmoulins,  Camille,  93 

De  Soto,    Hernando,   302,   330, 

413,  415,  416,  541 
d'Estaing,  298,  318,  325 
Detroit,  British  at,  510 
de  Vaudreuil,  Marquis,  422 
Dew,  Wells's  theory  of,  271 
Dewey,  Admiral  George,  465 
Dexter,  Andrew,  381,  382,  397 
Dexter,  Samuel,  381 
D'Hughes,  85 

Dickens,   Charles,   quoted,    iii, 
138,  159  ;  at  Louisville,   520- 
522 
Dickinson  College,  208 
Dickson,  Thomas,  83 
Dieppe,  249 
Digges,  Dudley,  120 
Diligence,  the,  239,  240 
Discovery,  the,  151 
District  of  Columbia,  see  Wash- 
ington 
Ditty,  Mrs.,  141 
Dixon  and  the  torpedo,  280 
Dobbs,  Gov.  Arthur,  234 
Donelson,  Capt.  John,  and  the 
settlement  of  Nashville,  482^. 
Donelson,  Rachel,  482 
Don  yuan,  Byron's,  quoted,  509 
Do}t  Miff,  Dabncy's,  quoted,  249 
Dorchester,  Ga.,  312 
Douglass,  Major  H.  Kyd,  95 
Dove,  the,  i,  50 
Dow,  Lorenzo,  353 
Doyle  quoted,  259 
Drake,  Sir  F.,  259,  331,  567 
Draper,  Sir  Wm.,  14 
Drayton,  quoted,  15 1 
Drayton,  W.  H.,  271,  272 
Drummond,     Governor,     execu- 
tion of,  192 


Index 


589 


Diiblin     University    Magazine, 

212 
Du  Bois,  Father  John,  93 
Du  Bose  quoted,  399 
Dulany.  Daniel,  66  ;  note,  79 
Dulany,  murder  of,  82 
Dulanys,  home  of  the,  73 
Dunlap,  Wm.,  269 
Dunmore,    Lord,  161 
Dupont  attacks  Charleston,  290  ; 
St     Augustine    surrenders   to, 

578 
Du  Pratz  quoted,  540 
Durnford,  Governor,  343,  347 
Durrett,  Col.  Reuben  T.,  532 
Duval,  Wm.  P.,  516 


Early,    Gen.   Jubal   A.,   attacks 

Washington,  141 
"  East  Alabama  Town,"  383 
East  Knoxville,  466 
Ebenezer,  Ga.,  297 
Ecunchatty,  381,  4io 
Edenton,  N.    C,    238  ;    Bisjiop 

T    B.  Cheshire  on,  223-228 
Edict  of  Nantes,  Revocation  of, 

290 
Edmonson,  Colonel,  389 
Ege,  Jacob,  159  ^      . 

Eggleston,    Edward,    at    Louis- 

Ellicott,  Andrew,  352  ;  and  the 
planning  of  Washington,  119 
Elliott,  Stephen,  272 
Elmore,  Capt.  Rush,  398 
Emmerson,  Thos.  457 
Endymion,  Keats's,  525 
England    and    treaty    of 

see  British 
English,    explorations    of     the, 

331  ;  in  the  Ohio  Valley,  335  ; 

possession    of     Mobile,     342- 

347  ;  see  also  British 
Ennalls,  Mr.,  213 
Enquirer,  the  Richmond,  xxvu 
Eslava,  Don  Miguel,  348 


1763, 


Estelle  Hall,  3^-9.  402 
Etowah,  battle  of,  461 
Eugene,  Prince,  of  Savoy,  315 
Eutaw,  Colonel  Howard  at,  26 
Evans,    Augusta,    362  ;    see  also 

Wilson 
Everhart,  Sergeant  Laurence,  84 
Expose  Jiistificatif,  Bertrand's, 

357 


Fairbanks,    G.    R.,   on   St.    Au- 
gustine, 557-581 
"  Fairregret,"  see  Farragut 
Falconer,  John,  381 
Fanning,  David,  243 
Farmer,  Major  Robert,  occupies. 

Fort  Chartres,  345 
Farragut,    Admiral,    xxx,    465  ; 

at  Mobile,  369-371 
Farragut,  George,  4^5 
Fearon,  H.  B.,  520,  524 
Feilden,   Col.    H.   W.,    quoted,. 

282 
Fell,  27 

Fell,  Edward,  8-10 
Fell,  Wm.,  10 
Fell's  Point,  10,  24,  41 
"Fighting  Parson,"  .ftv  Brown- 
low 
Filipina,  330 
Fisk  University,  500 
Fitch,  John,  504 
File,  Jacob,  24 
Flagler,  H.  M.,  580 
Fleet,  Henry,  quoted,  102 
Fleming,  John,  7 
Flora  Caroliniana,  272 
Florida,     34i  ;    annexed,     207  ; 
Spain  in,    330,    347 ;    French 
occupy,     331,    332  ;     English 
troops   in,   346  ;    ^^'^   ^"'^    ^^ 
Augustine 
Florida,  the,  366-368 
Foley's     statue      of      Stonewall. 

Jackson,  170 
Forrest,  Edwin,  363 


590 


Index 


Forrest,  Clen.  N.  R.,  496 

Forsyth,  John,  363 

Forts  :  Biloxi,  338 ;  liowyer, 
355.  SSC)  :  Caroline,  561-567; 
Charles,  155,  560;  Charlotte, 
342,  351  ;  Chartres,  33S,  345  ; 
Conde,  338,  341,  342  ;  Donel- 
son,  496  ;  Gaines,  362,  369, 
371  ;  Halifax,  294  ;  Johnston, 
241;  Loudon,  449;  Louis  de  la 
Mobile,  332  ;  Marion,  57S  ; 
McDermott,  374 ;  McHenry, 
22,  37,  92  ;  Maurepas,  332  ; 
Mifflin,  26  ;  Minims,  354  ; 
Morgan,  362,  366,  369,  372  ; 
Moultrie,  xxx,  266  ;  Natchez, 
338  ;  Natchitoches,  338  ;  New 
Orleans,  338  ;  Patrick  Henry, 
482  ;  Pulaski,  322-324  ;  Red, 
374;  Ridley,  4S5;  St.  Stephen, 
350,  352,  353  :  Saunders,  471, 
472  ;  Severn,  67  ;  Sidney  John- 
son, 368  ;  Spanish,  372,  374  ; 
Stoddert,  353  ;  Sumter,  xix, 
xxx,  280,  282,  505  ;  Tom- 
becbe,  335,  33S  ;  Toulouse, 
335,  338-340,  354;  White's, 
451 

Fottrell,  Edward,    16 

Fountain  Inn,  24 

Fowler,  Abraham,  548,  552 

France,  173  ;  acquires  the  St. 
Lawrence  and  Florida,  331  ; 
in  the  Mississippi  Valley,  334, 
414,  416,  433  ;  and  Mobile, 
345,  348  ;  and  treaty  of  1763, 
422  ;  re-acquires  New  Orleans, 
428 

Franklin,  battle  of,  497 

Franklin,  Benjamin,  at  Fred- 
erick, Md.,  78;  quoted,  310 

Franklin  College,  311 

Franklin  Library,  158 

Frascati,  36S 

Phaser,  Charles,  275 

Frederica,  Cia.,  297,  316 

Frederick,  Prince  of  Wales,  78 

Frederick     Town,     xxix  ;    Sara 


Andrew  Shafer  on,  75-99  ; 
settlement,  75-78  ;  French 
and  Indian  War,  78  ;  resist- 
ance to  the  Stamp  Act,  82  ; 
Revolution,  84  ;  Thos.  John- 
son, 86-S9  ;  Francis  Scott 
Key,  90-92  ;  visit  of  Lafayette, 
93  ;  Civil  War,  94  ;  Barbara 
Frietchie  legend,  96-98 

Freeland  Station,  Indians  at- 
tack, 487 

P'rench,  Daniel,  517 

French,  the,  st't'  France 

French  and  Indian  War,  14,  78, 
196,  342,  434 

French  Lick,  the,  479,  481 

French  Revolution,  477 

Fritchie,  Barbara,  96-98 

Fritchie,  John,  97 

Fulton,  Robert,  357,  504,  517 

J^ It  n  da  III  c  n  t  a  I  Constitutions. 
Locke's,  254 


G 


Gadsden,  Christopher,  271 

Gait  House,  Dickens  at  the,  522 

Galvez,  rules  Louisiana,  346 ; 
attacks  Mobile,  347,  372 

Garay,  Governor,  329 

Gardner,  Capt.  Samuel,  15 

Garrett's  Public  Men  quoted, 
397 

Gates,  Sir  Thomas,  151 

Gazette,  Maryland,  42  ;  Phila- 
delphia, 83  ;  Virginia,  156  ; 
South  Carolina,  269 ;  Knox- 
ville,  457 

Gentry,  Meredith  P.,  490 

George  I.,  195 

George  III.,  78,  342 

Georgetown,  Va.,  117,  124,  128. 
148  ;   and  national  capital,  114 

Georgia,  gold  region  of,  331  ; 
organizes  Bourbon  County  in 
Mississippi,  437  ;  see  also  Sa- 
vannah 

Georgia  Central  R'y,  294,  322 


Index 


591 


German     Relief    Hall,     Mobile, 

339 
Germantown    and    the    national 

capital,  108,   113 
Gettysburg,  470,  472 
Ghent,  treaty  of,  356 
Gibbes,  273 
Gibson,     Randall     L.,     defends 

Spanish  Fort,  372,  374 
Gillmore,    Gen.,     reduces     Fort 

Pulaski,  324 
Gilman,  Daniel  C.,  42 
Gilmer,  Governor,  quoted,  391 
Gist,  Gen.  Mordecai,  26 
Glasgow,  Yorktown  trade  with, 

187 
Glassell  and  the  torpedo,  280 
Godfrey,  Thomas,  244 
God  Speed,  the,  151 
Goliad,  the  surrender  at,  395 
Goodhue,  109 
Goose  Creek    and    the    national 

capital,  104,  105 
G.  A.  R.  at  Louisville,  506 
Granger,  General,  372 
Grant,    Gen.    U.    S.,    xxix,   xxx, 

472,  498  ;  and  the  defence  of 

Washington,      142  ;      besieges 

Vicksbiirg,  435,  442-446 
Great    Britain,    see    British    and 

England 
Greene,    Gen.    N.,    in    Georgia, 

298,  303,  306  ;  quoted,  26 
Grimke,  John  F.,  271 
Grundy,  Felix,  490 
Guilford,  Col.  Howard  at,  26 
Guion,  Gov.  John  J.,  440 

H 


Habersham,     James,    312,    314, 

315 
Hackett,  J.  H.,  363 
Hadfield,  George,  125 
Hakluyt,  249 
Haldimand,   General,  papers  of, 

344 


Hall,  Dr.  Lyman,  and  St.  John's 

Parish,  Ga.,  313,  314 
Hallam,  Lewis,  212 
Hallam,  Miss,  212 
Hallett,     Stephen    L.,    and    the 

national  capital,  121,  122,  125 
Hamburg,  Germany,  xxviii 
Hamburg,  S.  C,  xxviii 
Hamilton,  A.,  and  the  national 

capital,  113,   114 
Hamilton,  Peter,  362 
Hamilton,  Peter  J.,  on  Mobile, 

327-378 
Hampden-Sidney  College,  208 
Hampton,  Va.,  187 
Harnett,  C. ,  240,  242,  244 
"  Harop,"  190 
Harriet,  the,  357,  393 
Harris,  Isham  G.,  466 
Harrison,  President  Wm.  H.,214 
Harrodsburg,  Ky.,   510 
Hart,  Joel  T.,   statues  of  Henry 

Clay,  168,  531 
Hartford,  the,  370,  371 
Harvard  College,  206,  311 
Harvey,  Sir  John,  187 
Harvy-town,  4 
Havana,  256,  424 
Hawkins,  331 
Hawthorne,  509 
Hayne,  Col.  Arthur,  389 
Hayne,  Col.  Isaac,  286 
Hayne,  Paul  Hamilton,  273 
Hayne,  Robt.  Y.,  xxiii 
Hempstead,     Samuel    H.,     54S, 

550 
Henfrey,  182 
Henry,  Patrick,  87,  168,  191  ;  at 

Williamsburg,    196,    197  ;  and 

George    Rogers    Clark,     511  : 

quoted,  161 
Henry,   W.   W.,    on   Richmond, 

15I7183 
Hermitage,  the,  491-493 
Heroine,  the,  366 
Herrington,  4 
Hewatt,  258 
Hewes,  Joseph,  228 


592 


Index 


Hey  ward,  Thos.,  270 
Higginson,  Capt.  R.,  190 
Hilliard  and  Yancey,  399 
Hitchcock's  Press,  359 
Hoban,  James,  plans  the  White 

House,  122,  125,  126,  137 
Hodgson    describes    Mobile    in 

1S20,  359 
Holbrook,  273 
Hollywood,  180 
Holmes,   O.   W.,   at    Frederick, 

94 
Holt,  Atty.-Gen.  Joseph,  440 
Hood,  (jeneral,  497 
Hood,  Zachariah,  83 
Hooper,  George,  236 
Hooper,  Wm.,  236,  241,  242 
Hoosier  Tales,   Eggleston's,  530 
Hope,  James  Barron,  16S 
Horse    Shoe    Bend,    battle    of, 

355.  3S4 

Houdon,  his  statue  of  Washing- 
ton, 165,  166  ;  his  bust  of  La- 
fayette, 173 

Won^hXons  Life  of  Keats,  525 

Houston,  Sam,  465.  490 

Houston,  Wm.,  238 

How  he  Saved  St.  MichaeVs,  28S 

Howard,  Col.  J.  E.,  26,  27,  35  ; 
quoted,  37 

Howard's  Park,  36 

Howe,  Gen.  Robt.,  at  Savannah, 
317,  318,  324 

Hugh,  Andrew,  83 

Huguenots,  in  America,  249, 
250,  559  ff.  ;  at  Charleston, 
269,  290 

Humphreys  Creek,  6 

Hunter,  Father,  80 

Hunter,  Senator  R.  M.  T.,  168 


Iberville,  332,  416 

Illinois,  334 

Indigo,     cultivation    of,     in    the 

South,  xvii,  277,  576 
Ingle,  Edward,  xxv 


Innes,  James,  236 
Iredell,  James,  227,  238,  242 
Iroquois,  the,  76,  478 
Irving,  Washington,  visits  Louis- 
ville, 514-516,  522,  530 
Italians  brought  to  Georgia,  304 


J 


Jackson,  Andrew,  xxx,  466,  489, 
490  ;  at  Mobile,  355,  356,  363  ; 
at  New  Orleans,  423  ;  and 
Hugh  L.  White,  464;  resi- 
dence of,  483,  491  ;  his  old 
age,  492  ;    at  Louisville,  531 

Jackson,  Gen.  Wm.  H.,  498 

Jackson,  Rachel  Donelson,  482, 
491,  492 

Jackson,  Stonewall,  xxix,  94,  95, 
98  ;  Foley's  statue  of,  170 

Jackson,  Thomas  J.,  see  Stone- 
wall Jackson 

Jacksonville,  Florida,  578 

Jamaica,  329 

James,  Henry,  quoted,  509 

James  River,  151,  152,  154,  156, 

159 

Jamestown,  Va.,  300,  331 ;  settle- 
ment of,  152.  154,  155,  185, 
186  ;  in  Bacon's  Rebellion, 
191,  192,  194  ;  comjiared  with 
St.  Augustine,  557 

Jasper,  Sergeant,  298,  299,  303, 
318 

Jefferson,  Thomas,  88,  122,  130, 
168,  311  ;  and  the  site  of  the 
national  capital,  1 13-1 15  ;  and 
the  Declaration  of  Indepen- 
dence, 201,  203,  204  ;  at  Wil- 
liam and  Mary  College,  207, 
214;   quoted,  4,  164-166 

Jennings,  Edmund,  72 

Jesuits  in  the  Mississippi  Valley, 

334 
John  of  Argyle,  315 
Johns  Hopkins  Hospital,  42,  43 
Johns  Hopkins   University    42^ 

43 


Index 


593 


Johnson,  Andrew,  284 ;  im- 
peachment of,  467-469 

Johnson,  Charles,  228 

Johnson,  Dr.,  316 

Johnson,  Gov.  Sir  Nathaniel, 
257 

Johnson,  Thomas,  59,  85-89,  93 

Johnston,  Gen.  J.  E.,  188,  216, 
372  ;  at  Vicksburg,  443 

Johnston,  Gov.  Gabriel,  228, 
231,  235,  238 

Johnston,  Samuel,  228,  242 

Joliet,  331 

Jonas  town,  8,  41 

Jones,  Charles,  83 

Jones,  Col.  C.  C,  quoted,  309, 
312,  316 

Jones,  Commodore  Thos.  Ap- 
Catesby,  70 

Jones,  Rev.  Hugh,  quoted,  208- 
211 

Jones's  Falls,  7,  18 

Jones's  Point,  116 

Joppa,  6 

Jouett,  Matthew  H.,  531 

Journal,  Louisville,  505,  532 

Jubilee  Singers,  the,  500 

Juchereau,  335 

K 

Kaskaskia,  G.  R.  Clark  attacks, 

511 

Kean,  Charles,  363 

Keats,  George,  at  Louisville, 
504,  524-530 

Keats,  Isabella,  528-530 

Keats,  John,  and  George  Keats, 
504,  524 

Kennedy,  Hon.  John  P.,  quoted, 
28-32 

Kentucky,  xxi,  xxii  ;  see  Louis- 
ville 

Key,  Francis  Scott,  37,  91,  395 

Key,  John  Ross,  84 

Kiawah,  the  Cacique  of,  250 

King,  Grace,  on   New  Orleans, 

411- 431 
38 


King  William's  School,  56 

Kinsale,  251 

Klinck,  John  G.,  quoted,  382- 
384 

Kneller,  Sir  Godfrey,  158 

Knox,  Gen.  Henry,  Knoxville 
named  for,  451,  455 

Knoxville,  J.  W.  Caldwell  on, 
449-475  ;  genesis  of,  449-451; 
Gov.  Blount,  451-454  ;  Indian 
treaty  of  1791,  454;  legisla- 
tive act  of  1794,  455  ;  the  first 
mayor,  457 ;  Blount  College 
founded,  458  ;  Indian  war  of 
1793,  458-461  ;  Constitution- 
al Convention  of  1796,  462  ; 
Hugh  L.  White,  463-465  ; 
George  Farragut,  465  ;  Sam 
Houston,  465  ;  Fighting  Par- 
son Brownlow,  466-468  ;  Hor- 
ace Maynard,  468  ;  Thos.  A. 
R.  Nelson,  468  ;  the  Civil 
War,  469—472  ;  since  the  war, 
472-475 

Krafft,  Michael,  360 


Ladies    Hermitage    Association, 

493 

Lady  of  the  Lake,  392 

Lafayette,  General,  in  Balti- 
more, 24  ;  at  Frederick,  93  ; 
at  Washington,  147  ;  at  Rich- 
mond, 173  ;  at  Savannah,  303; 
at  Mobile,  358  ;  at  Montgom- 
ery, 388;  at  Nashville,  490,  492 

Lakanal,  357,  35S 

Lamartine,  135 

Lane,  John,  438 

Langdon,  C.  C.,  363 

La    Rochefoucault   quoted,    267 

La  Salle,  331,  332,  334,  414-416 

La  Tour,  338 

Laudonniere,  ^bl  ff. 

Law,  John,  and  the  Mississippi 
Bubble,  336,  348,  417,  418 

Lawrence  at  Fort  Bowyer,  355 


594 


Index 


Le  Clerc,  M.,  i6 

Lee,  Gen.  R.  E.,  xxix.,  175,  323, 
476  ;  at  Frederick,  94  ;  Mer- 
cie's  statue  of,  178;  residence 
of,  180  ;  surrender  of,  246 

Lee,  R.  H.,  87,  88  ;  and  the  na- 
tional capital,  115  ;  his  resolu- 
tion of  independence,  204 

Leeward  Islands,  276 

Le  Feboure,  M.,  plans  attack  on 
Charleston,  256,  257 

Legare,  Hugh  S.,  xxvii,  272 

Lemoyne,  332 

L'Enfant,  Major,  104,  119 

Le  Sueur,  explorations  of,  334 

Le  Vert's  Souvenirs  of  Travel, 
362 

Lidell  at  Blakely,  374 

Lincoln,  Abraham,  41,  506;  at 
Frederick,  94 

Little  Rock,  George  B.  Rose  on, 
537-556  ;  physiography  of  the 
region,  537-539  ;  original  in- 
habitants, 539-541  ;  early 
visits  of  white  men,  541;  made 
capital  of  the  Territory,  544  ; 
growth,  544-547  ;  leaders  of, 
54S-552  ;  Civil  War,  552  ; 
later  history,  553 

Liverpool  &  Manchester  R.  R., 
27S 

Lloyd  house,  63 

Lobb,  Captain,  239 

Locke,  John,  254 

Loftus,  Major,  345 

London,  Yorktown  trade  with, 
187 

Long  Island,  battle  of,  26 

Longstreet,  General,  besieges 
Knoxville,  470-472 

Louis  XIV.,  332 

Louisiana,  207,  346,  417  ;  nam- 
ing of,  331  ;  cession  of,  352, 
428,  542  ;  acquires  Statehood, 
430  ;  see  also  New  Orleans 

Louisiana  artillery,  374 

Louisville,  Lucien  V.  Rule  on, 
503-535  ;     the    site,  503  ;    dis- 


tinguished citizens,  504-506  ; 
historic  significance,  506-509  ; 
founding  of,  509-514  ;  Irving's 
description,  514-516  ;  visitors 
to,  517-520;  immigration,  520; 
Charles  Dickens  at,  521  ; 
George  Keats,  522-530  ;  Civil 
War,  532 

Louisville,  Cincinnati  &  Charles- 
ton R.  R.  Co.,  xxi 

Lucas,  Colonel,  276 

Lucas,  Eliza,  276 

Luckett,  William,  83 

Ludlow,  Noah  M.,  363 

Lyell,  Sir  Charles,  273 

Lynch,  Thos.,  Jr.,  270 

Lyon,  David,  83 

M 

Maclean,  Archibald,  236,  242 
Macon,  Ga.,  xxv 
Macready  at  Mobile,  363 
Madison,  Dolly,  131 
Madison,  James,  and  L'  Enfant, 

120  ;   at  Washington,  131,  134; 

quoted,   109,  165 
Madison,  Rev.  James,  214 
Maffitt,  Captain,  366,  36S 
Magna  Charta,  204 
Maison  Quarree,  164,  165 
Malbone,  Edward,  275 
Maldonado,  330 
Manasses,  first  battle  of,  323 
Maney,  General,  498 
Manigault,  Gabriel,  271,  274 
Marchand,  340 
Marlborough,  259 
Marquette,  331 
Marshall,   John,    165,    16S,  214; 

house  of,  171-173  ;   at  trial  of 

Aaron  Burr,   174 
Marshall,  Mary  Willis  Ambler, 

172 
Martian,   Nicholas,  187 
Martin,  Governor,  241 
Martin,  Luther,  40 
Martin  Chuzzleivit,  521 


Index 


595 


Maryland,  ior-103  ;  and  the  na- 
tional capital,  108;  sec  also  An- 
napolis, Baltimore,  Frederick 

Maryland  Historical  Society,  11, 
26,  44 

Mason,  George,  204 

Massachusetts  Bay,  Puritan  land- 
ing at,  249 

Massacre  Island,  332 

Maubila,  328 

Maury,  D.  H.,  defends  Mobile, 

374 
Maury,  M.  F.,  181 
Maybrick,  Mrs.,  362 
Maynard,  Horace,  467-469 
Maynard,  Washburn,  468 
Mayo,  Capt.  Isaac,  70 
Mayo,  Major,  156 
McClellan,   General,   xxix,  188, 

216 
McClung,  Capt.  P.,  469 
McCrady,  Gen.  E.,  quoted,  254, 

273 
McCulloh,  H.  E.,  227 
McDuffie,  Governor,  xxi,  xxii 
McGillivray,  340 
Mcintosh,   Gen.    Lachlan,    296, 

318 
McKinley,  President,  320 
McLaw,  471 
McMahon,    Hon.    John  V.    L., 

44 
McNutt,  Governor,  440 
Meigs,  M.  €.,  quoted,  283 
Meldrim,    Hon.   P.  W.,  quoted, 

298 
Memoirs,  Moultrie's,  266 
Memphis,   335 
Menefee,  Mrs.  E.,  531 
Menendez,  559-56?-  572 
Menendez,  Don  Pedro,  568 
Mercie's  statue  of  Lee,  178 
Mercury,   the  Charleston,  xxvii 
Merrimac,  the,  187 
Mexico,     146,     331,    346 ;      St. 

Denis  visits,    335  ;    war  with, 

398,  504,  549  ;   gold  mines  of, 

415 


"  Middle  Plantation,"  190 

Middleton,  Arthur,  270 

Mignot,  Louis  R.,  275 

Milledge,  Governor,  311 

Miller,  Wm.  K.,  xxviii 

Milliken's  Bend,  442 

Minden,  the,  37 

Minge,  James,  191 

Mississippi,  territorial  govern- 
ment of,  organized,  437  ;  see 
also  Vicksburg 

Mississippi  Bubble,  Law's,    336 

Mississippi  River,  329  ;  French 
and  the,  334  ;  De  Soto  and  the, 
413,  414  ;  and  the  treaty  of 
1763,  422  ;  and  the  great 
West,  426 

Moale,  John,  6-8,  11 

Mobile,  XXX,  417,  434  ;  Peter  J. 
Hamilton  on,  327-378  ;  his- 
toric background,  327-332 ; 
early  settlements,  332-338  ; 
character  of  early,  339,  340  ; 
the  English  drive  out  the 
French,  342-346  ;  the  Spanish 
era,  347-352  ;  becomes  Amer- 
ican, 352-354  ;  in  the  War  of 
1S12,  354-356  ;  American  de- 
velopment, 356-364 ;  in  the 
Civil  War,  364-375  ;  in  recent 
times,  375-378 

Mobile  &  Ohio  R.  R.,  361 

Mohawks,  478 

Mon  Louis  Island,  341 

Monacans,  102 

Monahoacs,  102 

Monnokasi,  77 

Monocacy,  76  ;  battle  at,  141 

Monockessy,  77 

Monroe,  President,  165,  180, 
320,  492,  516;  at  William  and 
Mary  College,  207  ;  at  Louis- 
ville, 531  ;  orders  troops  into 
Florida,  577 

Montezuma,  306 

Montgomery,  xix,  553  ;  George 
Petrie  on,  379-410  ;  origin  of, 
380-384  ;  the  early  settlement 


596 


Index 


Montgomery  —  Continued 

described,  384-386 ;  visit  of 
Lafayette,  388-390  ;  social  and 
economic  history,  390-395  ; 
State  capital  moved  to,  396  ; 
the  war  with  Mexico,  398 ; 
influence  of  Yancey,  399-405 ; 
capital  of  the  Confederacy, 
407;  inauguration  of  President 
Davis,  40S  ;  after-days,  409 

Montgomery,  Lemuel,  383 

Montgomery,  Richard,  384 

Montgomery,  SirRobt.,  quoted, 
299,  301 

Montgomery  R.  R.,  393 

Monticello,  311 

Montrose,  343,  346,  350,  368 

Monumental  Church,  Richmond, 
170 

Moore,  Arthur,  380 

Moore,  Francis,  303 

Moore,  Governor,  574 

Moore,  Maurice,  232 

Moore,  Roger,  233 

Moore,   Tom,   quoted,  104,  131, 
146 

Moravians  in  Georgia,  305 

More,  Hannah,  316 

Morris  Island,  282 

Moss,  Major,  174 

Moultrie,  Gen.  W.,  quoted,  266, 
286 

Mound-builders,  the,  478 

Mount  Clare,  18 

Mount  Olivet,  498 

Mount  Vernon,  125,  330,  492 

Mowatt,  Mrs.,  363 

Murfreesboro,  battle  of,  496 

Murphy's    Circulating     Library, 

33 
Murray,    Hon.    C.    A.,    quoted, 

268 
Muse,  Col.  H.,  quoted,  212 


N 


Nacochtank,  loi 
Nahant,  the,  324 


Nanipacna,  330 
Napoleon  L,  357 
Napoleon  IIL,  273 
Narvaez,  329 
Nash,  General,  484 
Nashborough,  484 
Nashville,   xxx,    450,  462,    474 ; 
Gates    P.    Thruston    on,  477- 
501  ;    prehistoric    times,    477- 
479  ;    founding    of,    47(^-483  ; 
naming  of,  4S4  ;  the  founder, 
4S5  ;  Lidian  attacks,  486-4S9  ; 
Nashborough    becomes   Nash- 
ville, 489  ;   visit  of  Lafayette, 
490  ;  Andrew  Jackson  in,  491- 
494  :  the  home    of  James   K. 
Polk,    494  ;     becomes    capital 
of  Tennessee,  494  ;  Civil  War, 
495-498  ;  recent  history,  49S- 
501 
Natchez,  353  ;  settlement  of,  433 
Natchez  Indians,  340 
"  Nat  Turner  Insurrection,"  170 
Naval  Academy,  U.  S.,  6S-72 
Nelson,  Thos.  A.  R.,  468 
Neufchatel,  liturgy  of,  291 
Newbern,  N.  C,  223,  228,  233 
Newburyport,  Mass.,  311 
Newport,  Capt.,  at  Jamestown, 

154 

Newport  News,  188 

Newport,  U.  S.  Naval  Academy 
removed  to,  70 

New  Mexico,  478 

New  Orleans,  xvi,  xix,  xxx, 
xxxii,  338,  342,  346,  352,  358, 
434,  436,  517  ;  Grace  King  on, 
41 1-43 1  ;  background  of,  411- 
413  ;  De  Soto's  explorations, 
413  ;  La  Salle's  scheme,  414- 
416  ;  Iberville's  Success,  416  ; 
Bienville's  work,  416-418  ; 
growth  of,  41S-422  ;  Spain 
acquires,  423-427  ;  French  re- 
acquire, 428  ;  ceded  to  United 
States,  428  ;  battle  of  New 
Orleans,  430  ;  the  city  to-day, 
430 


Index 


597 


New  Philadelphia,  380 

Newton,  N.  C,  235 

New  York,  xvi,  xx,  269  ;   Dutch 

settlement    of,    249 ;   and    the 

national  capital,  108 
Nicholson,  Capt.  James,  22 
Nicholson,  Gov.  Francis,  194 
"  None  Such,"  155 
North  America,  discovery  of,  151 
North  Carolina,  449,  489  ;  cedes 

Western  lands,   451  ;    see  also 

Wilmington 
North  Point,  British  attack  on, 

37 
Northwest  Territory,  511 
Nott's  Types  of  MankhtJ,  362 


O 


Oconostota,  quoted,  486 

Ogle,  Governor,  62 

Oglethorpe,  Gen.  James  E.,  at 
Savannah,  294,  296,  302,  306, 
307,  310,  315.  324,  575 

Ohio  River,  French  occupy,  335 

Ohio  Valley,  5io_^. 

Oliver,  the  stamp  distributor,  197 

O'Malley,  Charles  J., quoted,  534 

Oneida,  the,  368 

Opechancanough,  190 

Ordinance  of  1787,  437 

Orleans  College,  358 

Orleans,  Duke  of,  418 

Orleans,  the,  517 

O'Reilly  and  New  Orleans,  424 

Orton  House,  232 

Oyster  Point,  settlements  on, 
252 


Paca  homestead,  the,  62 
Pacquereau,  Captain,  258 
Page,  General,  366,  372 
Panuco,  329 

Paris,  170  ;   Treaty  of,  422 
Parker,      Sir       Peter,      besieges 
Charleston,  264,  290 


Parliament,  Act  of  1748,  276 
"  Patawomeke,"  102 
Paulding,  James  K.,  516 
Peabody,  George,  500 
Peabody  Institute,  44 
Peabody  Normal  College,  500 
Peach     Bottom,    and    site     for 

national  capital,  108 
Peggy  Stewart,  burning  of  the, 

63,  65 
Pelham  Cadets,  371 
Pelham,  Peter,  214 
Pemberton,    General,    at   Vicks- 

burg,435,  443,  444 
Pendleton,     Edmund,     and    the 

Williamsburg-C  o  n  v  e  n  t  i  o  n, 

201,  202 
Penn,  Wm.,  21;,  124,  572 
Pensacola,    333,    336,    344,    347, 

371 

Percy,  Commodore,  attacks  Fort 
Bowyer,  355 

Perier,  340 

Peter  the  Great,  340 

Peterborough,  Lord,  158 

Petigru,  James  L.,  quoted,  291 

Petrovich,  Alexis,  340 

Petrie,  George,  on  Montgomery, 
xix,  379-410 

Phi  Beta  Kappa  Society  orga- 
nized, 207 

Philadelphia,  xvi,  21,  87,  269; 
and  the  Continental  Congress, 
106,  203  ;  and  the  Convention 
of  1787,  201  ;  and  the  national 
capital,  108,  114,  126;  com- 
pared with  Charleston  in  1796, 
267 

Philip  and  Charles,  the,  I  r 

Philippines,  196 

Phillips,  Philip,  362 

Pickens,  Governor,  388 

Pickett's  charge  at  Gettysburg, 
472 

Piedmontese,  the,  in  Ga.,  306 

Pierce,  Franklin,  140 

Pike,  Albert,  547,  548,  552 

Pilgrims  at  Plymouth,  154,  557 


598 


Index 


Pillans,  Engineer,  369 

Pinckney,  C.  C,  270,  276 

Pinckney,  Thos.,  270,  276 

Pinkney,  Wm..  40 

Pineda  in  Florida,  329 

Pittsburg,  511,  517,  51S,  521 

Placide,  H.,  363 

Plains  of  Abraham,  342 

Plymouth,  154,  300,  331,  558 

Pocahontas,  loi,  153,  159 

Poe,  David,  25 

Poe,  E.  A.,  xxvii,  25,  174 

Poe,  Mrs.  David,  25 

Polk,  James  K.,  70,  140,  492;  at 

Nashville,  492,  494  ;   tomb  of, 

495 
Polytechnic  Society,    Louisville, 

531 

Pompeii,  249 

Pont  Chatooga,  342 

Pope,  Alexander,  316 

Pope,  F.,  vision  of,  104,  105,  147 

Pope,  Warden,  531 

Porcher,  273 

Port  Bill,  the,  21 

Port  Hudson,  441 

Port  Royal,  S.  C,  249,  250,572 

Port  Royally  the,  250,  251 

Postboy,  the  New  York,  83 

Potomac  and  the  national  capi- 
tal, no.  III,  114,  116 

Pott,  Dr.  John,  190 

Powhatan,  loi,  146,  152,  155 

Pratt,  Enoch,  44 

Prentice,  George  D.,  505,  532 

Prentiss,  S.  S.,  440,  490 

Presbyterians  in  Knoxville,  449 

Price,  Thomas,  S3 

Princeton  College,  20S 

Prioleau,  290 

Privateers,  Baltimore,  38 

Provost,  Gen.  A.,  besieges 
Charleston.  266 

Pueblo  Builders,  478 

Pulaski,  25,  294,  299,  303,  318- 
320 

Purchas,  Rev.  Samuel,  153 

Puritans,  249,  312 


Purviance,  22 
Pushmataha,  355 


Quapaws,  539,  540 

Quebec,  334,  3S4 

Queen  Anne,  61,  158 

Quincy,  Josiah,  244.  267;  quoted 

259 
Quitman,  General ,  398 


R 


Raines,  General,  49S 

Raleigh,    Sir  Walter,    152,   219, 

259.  331 

Ramsay,  Allan,  274 

Ramsey,  Doctor,  quoted,  4S6 

Randall  house,  63 

Randolph,  Edmund,  201 

Randolph,  John,  165,  180,  512 

Randolph,  Peyton,  199 

Randolph,  Richard,  159 

Randolph,  Wm.,  159 

Randolph- Macon  College,  208 

Ravenel,  Dr.  St.  Julien,  dis- 
covers commercial  value  of 
phosphate  deposits  in  South 
Carolina,  279 

Ravenels,  the,  273 

Raymond,  John  T.,  363 

Ready  Moitt-v,  392 

Red  Gauntlet,  the,  366 

Reeves,  Lieutenant,  28 

Republican,  the  Montgomery, 
3S3 

Revolution,  American,  Southern 
cities  in,  see  individual  cities 

Rhett,  Lieutenant-Colonel,  de- 
fends Charleston,  231,  256 

Rhyner,  Mr.,  28S 

Ribaut,  Captain  Jean,  249,  560- 
.564 

Rice,  cultivation  of,  in  the  South, 
xvii,  277 


Index 


599 


Richmond,  xxvi,  xxvii,  xxix,  206, 
409  ;  Wm.  Wirt  Henry  on, 
1 51-183  ;  site  discovered  by 
Captain  John  Smith,  154; 
founded  by  Col.  W.  E.  Byrd, 
156;  Act  of  Virginia  legislature 
in  1742,  158  ;  St.  John's 
Church,  159  ;  incorporated  in 
1782,  162  ;  the  Capitol,  164- 
170 ;  The  Marshall  house, 
171-173 ;  the  Swan  tavern, 
174 ;  the  Valentine  Museum, 
175  ;  The  Civil  War,  176-17S 

Ridgely,  Charles,  15 

Ridout,  John,  house  of,  64 

Rives,  Anielie,  377 

Roanoke  Island,  colony  on,  152 

Robertson,  Colonel,  takes  pos- 
session of  Mobile,  342 

Robertson,  Harrison,  534 

Robertson,  James,  450,  490,  501; 
at  Nashville,  479,  481-485, 
487 

Robespierre,  93 

Robin,  the  Abbe,  16 

Rogers,  Randolph,  168 

Romans's  expedition,  344 

Rome,  104-106 

Rose,  George  B.,  on  Little  Rock, 
537-556 

Rose,  Rev.  Robert,  159 

Rosecrans,  General,  498 

Rose  Hill,  86 

Ross,  General,  134,  136 

Ross,  Rev.  Doctor,  95 

Roulstone,  George,  457 

Rule,  Lucien  V.,  on  Louisville. 

503-535 
Russell's  Magazine,  xxvii 
Russia,  340 
Rutledge,  Hugh,  270 
Rutledge,  John,  270 
Ryan,  Father,  377 


St.    Anne's    Church,   Annapolis, 
53,  54 


St.  Augustine,  xvi,  xxix,  256 ; 
G.  R.  Fairbanks  on,  557-581  ; 
settled  and  laid  out  by  Menen- 
dez,  559-566  ;  burned  by 
Drake,  567-570;  rebuilt,  570; 
captured  by  Captain  Davis, 
571  ;  captured  by  Governor 
Moore,  574  ;  invested  by  Ogle- 
thorpe, 575  ;  ceded  to  Eng- 
land, 576  ;  restored  to  Spain, 
577  ;  United  States  acquires, 
577  ;  in  Civil  War,  578  ;  re- 
cent improvements,  580 

St.  Cecilia  Society,  Charleston, 
260,  290 

St.  Charles  Royal  Hospital,  425 

St.  Denis,  explorations  of,  335, 
338 

St.  Francis,  order  of,  571 

St.  James's  Church,  Wilming- 
ton, N.  C,  244 

St.  John's  Church,  Richmond, 
159-161 

St.    John's    College,    Annapolis, 

55,  56 
St.  John's  Parish,  Ga.,  312 
St.    Lawrence,    French    occupy 

the,  331 
St.  Louis,  413,  542 
St.  Mary's,  Md.,  i,  53 
.St.   Mary's   Church,   Annapolis, 

66 
St.  Mary's  County,  Md.,  5 
St.  Memin,  275 

St.   Michael's    Church,   Charles- 
ton, 287,  2S8,  291 
St.  Paul's  Church,  Baltimore,  11 
St.  Paul's  Church,  Edenton,  225, 

226 
St.  Philip's  Church,  Brunswick, 
^  N.  C,  233 
St.  Philip's  Church,  Charleston, 

254,  255,  286-288 
St.  Stanislaus,  order  of,  273 
Salem,  N.  C,  222 
Salzburgers,  the,  in  Ga.,  79,  297, 

305 
San  Domingo,  revolution  in,  32 


6oo 


Index 


San  Jacinto,  battle  of,  491 

San  Marco,  Castle  of,  571,  575, 
57f>.  581 

Sands,  Captain,  364 

Santa  Anna,  395 

Santee,  the,  72 

Saunders,  Colonel,  469 

Savannah,  xxx  ;  Pleasant  A. 
Stovall  on,  293-325  ;  early 
settlements,  293-298  ;  Ogle- 
thorpe's colony,  300-306  ; 
Tomochichi,  306-308;  Wesley, 
308-310  ;  Whitefield,  310  ; 
the  Revolution,  311-320;  the 
Civil  War,  322-324 

Savantiah,  the,  320,  325 

Saxe- Weimar,  Duke  of,  358 

Sayle,  Gov.  Wm.,  250^. 

Schley,  Thomas,  77 

Schultz,  Henry,  xxviii 

Scotch-Irish,  in  Tennessee,  449, 
450 

Scott,  Gen.  Winfield,  118;  at 
William  and  Mary  College, 208 

Sebastopol,  siege  of,  280 

Secession,  Act  of,  165 

Seibels.  Col.  J.  J.,  398 

Selooe,  562 

Seminole  War,  578 

Semmes,  Raphael,  364,  366 

Seven  Years'  War,  the,  342 

Sevier,    Ambrose  H.,   548-550 

Sevier,  John,  450,  479,  485  ;  and 
the  battle  of  Etowah,  461  ; 
made  governor  of  Tennessee, 
462 

Shafer,  Sara  Andrew,  on  An- 
napolis, 47-73  ;  on  Frederick 
Town,  75-99 

Shaftesbury,    the    eighth    Lord, 

Sharkey,  Judge  W.  L.,  440 
Sharpe,    Governor,    quoted,    12, 

14,  16,  21 
Shelby,  Evan,  480 
Shelby,  Isaac,  479 
Shepherd,  Alexander  R.,  and  the 

city  of  Washington,  144 


Sherman,    Gen.     W.     T.,     xxx, 

498  ;  at  Charleston,  2S8  ;  cap- 
tures Savannah,  324 
Shields,  General,  398 
Shockoe's  Creek,  156 
Silk  culture  in  Ga.,  304 
Silk  Hope  plantation,  257 
Silsbee,  N.,  141 
Simms,     Wm.     Gilmore,     xxvii, 

273  ;   quoted,  264,  288 
Simrall,    H.   E.,  on    Vicksburg, 

433-447 
Sioussat,     St.     George    L.,     on 

Baltimore,  1-45 
Sixth    Massachusetts    Regiment 

in  Baltimore,  40 
Sketch  Book,  Irving's,  522 
Slavery,   negro,   introduced  into 

Florida,  572 
Slocum,  at  Red  Fort,  374 
Slough,  Mayor,   surrenders   Mo- 
bile to  Federal  forces,  375 
Smallwood,  General,  26 
Smith,  Capt.  John,  48,  102,  152- 

155 
Smith,  Capt.  Samuel,  26 
Smith,  Dr.  John   Lawrence,  273 
Smith,  Gov.  Thomas,  277 
Smith,  Joseph,  83 
Smith,  Robert  H.,  362 
Smith,  Sol.,  363 
Snowden,  Yates,  on  Charleston, 

XX,  249-292 
Somers,  Sir  George,  151 
South  America,  Spanish  in,  331 
South  Carolina,  see  Charleston 
South  Carolina  College,  208 
South  Carolina  Railroad  Co.,  xx 
South  Mountain,  battle  of,  94 
Southern     Literary    Messenger, 

xxvii 
Southern  Review,  xxvii,  272 
Southwest  Territory,  451,  454 
Souvenirs  of  Travels,  Le  Vert's, 

362 
Spain,  and  War  of  1742,  297  ;  in 
the  West   Indies,   328  ;    claims 
of,  in  United  States,  334  ;  ac- 


Index 


60 1 


Spain  —  Continued 

quires  Florida,   347  ;  acquires 
New    Orleans,    423-427  ;     in 
the    Mississippi    Valley,    433, 
436 ;    see   also    Mobile,    New 
Orleans,  St.  Augustine 
Spanish,     destroy     Port     Royal 
Colony,  250  ;    attack  Charles- 
ton, 256-258;    in   Georgia, 
302  ;  at  Mobile,  329,  330,  331, 
336 ;    at    Pensacola,    332 ;    at 
New  Orleans,  346,   423-427  ; 
Burr's  flight  to  the,   353  ;    see 
also  Spain 
Sparks,  Jared,  quoted,  34 
Speed,  John  Gilmer,  525 
Spencer,    settles    in    Kentucky, 

479 
Spotswood,  Governor,  ig6,  210 
Spring  Hill  Redoubt,  294,  31S 
Stagg,  Charles,  211 
Stamp    Act,    82,    83,    196,    199, 

206,  238 
Stanhope,  259 
Stansberry,  Mrs.,  288 
vStanton,  E.  M.,  283 
Statesman,  the  London,  quoted, 

136 
Steele,    in    attack    on    Spanish 

Fort,  372 
Steele,   General,   captures  Little 

Rock,  553 
Stephenson,  George,  278 
Stevenson,  Dr.  Henry,  12,  18 
Stevenson,  Dr.  John,  12,  14 
"Stevenson's  Folly,"  18 
Stewart,  Anthony,  63 
Stewart,  Doctor,  88 
Stewart,  George  N.,  362 
Stewart,  Peggy,  house  of,  64 
Stiles,   President    Ezra,    quoted, 

20  r 
Stone,  Governor,  52,  59,  109 
Stovall,    P.     A.,    on    Savannah, 

293-325 
Strawbridge,  Robert,  establishes 

Methodism  in  Md.,  82 
Stuart,  David,  122 


Stuart,  Gilbert,  274,  531 
Sullivan's  Island,  256 
Sumter,  the,  366 
Sunbury,  Ga.,  296,  312,  313 
Susan  Constant,  the,  151 
vSusquehanna,  the,   and    the    na- 
tional capital,  III 
Susquehannoghs,  the,  56,  76 
"Swamp  Angel,"  the,  282 
Swan,  the,  366 
Swan  Tavern,  Richmond,  174 


Tampico,  329 

Taney,  R.  B.,  60  ;  at  Frederick, 

92 
Tarleton,  Colonel,  84 
Taylor,  Hannis,  377 
Taylor,  Zachary,  504,  530,  532 
Tazewell,  John,  201 
Teach,  230,  231 
Teasdale,  John,  277 
Tecumsek,  the,  370 
Tennessee,    see    Knoxville    and 

Nashville 
Tennessee     Historical     Society, 

4S2 
Tennessee,  the,  369,  371 
Tennessee,    University    of,   458, 

459.  474 

Tennyson,  quoted,  507 

Tensaws,  the,  341 

Terra  Maria,  51,  75 

Texas,  xxvi,  207,  332,   335,  395 

Thackeray,  W.  M.,  78  ;  quoted, 
1S2 

Theus,  274 

Thomas,  Gen.,  xxx,  497,  498 

Thompson,  John  R.,  168,  180 

Thorington,  Col.  John  H.,  391 

Thornton,  Dr.  Wm.,  and  the 
Capitol  at  Washington,  121 

Throckmorton,  Major,  and 
Charles  Dickens,  522 

Thruston,  Gates  P.,  on  Nash- 
ville, 477-501 

Ticknor,  Captain,  395,  398 


6o2 


Index 


Times,  the  London,  quoted,  468 
Timrod,  Henry,  xxvii,  273,  274, 

288 
"  Tippecanoe    and    Tyler    too  " 

campaign,  395 
Tobacco,    cultivation  of,   in  the 

South,  xvii 
Toleration  Act  of  1649  in  Va., 

51,  52 
Tolstoy,  XXX 
Tomochichi,  306-30S 
Tondee's  tavern,  319 
Tonty,  334 
Tories   sentenced   at  Frederick, 

Torpedo,  the,  in  naval  warfare, 
280 

Townsend,  George  Alfred, 
quoted,  i 

Tragabigzanda,  154 

Traille,  Major,  2S7 

Trapnall,  Frederick  W.,  54S, 
552 

"  Traveller,"  17S 

Treaty,  of  Ghent,  356  ;  of  Paris 
in  1763,  422  ;  of  1783,  347  ; 
of  1 791  with  the  Cherokees, 
454,  458  ;  of  1795  with  Spain, 
437 

Tree,  Ellen,  363 

Trent,  W.  P.,  Introduction, 
xv-xxxiii 

Trenton,  Congress  at,  108 

Tripoli,  war  with,  71 

Troop,  Capt.  Robert,  105 

True  Relation,  Smith's,  quoted, 
154 

Tryon,  Governor,  228,  233,  238 

Tuscaloosa,  Alabama  capital  re- 
moved from,  396,  397 

Tuscarora,  76 

Twining,  Thomas,  quoted,  124 

Tyler,  John,  Sr.,  200,  201 

Tyler,  Lyon  G. ,  on  Williams- 
burg, 185-217 

Tyler,  President  John,  140,  180, 
214  ;  at  William  and  Mary  Col- 
lege, 207 


Tybee    Island,     317,    318,    323, 

324 
Tyndall,  272 
Types  of  Mankind,  Dr.    N'ott't 

362 


u 


Ursulines    Convent,     New    Or- 
leans, 420,  421,  425 
University  of  Maryland,  33 
University  of  Pennsylvania,  208 
University  of  Virginia,  208 


Valangin,  liturgy  of,  291 

Valentine,  E.  V.,  175,  176 

Valentine,  Mai.n  S.,  275 

Valentine  Museum,  175 

Valley  Forge,  85 

Van  Buren,  Martin,  464,  492 

Vanderbilt,  Cornelius,  endows 
Vanderbilt  University,  498 

Vanderbilt  University,  500 

Vanderlip,  Frank  A.,  on  Wash- 
ington, 101-150 

Van  Scheliha,  369 

\'audreuil,  341 

Vick,  Wm.,  43S 

Vicksburg,  xxx  ;  H.  F.  Simrall 
on,  433-447  ;  late  origin  of, 
433^438  ;  description  of,  438- 
440  ;  siege  of,  440-447 

Vincennes,  G.  R.  Clark  cap- 
tures, 510,  514 

Vine  and  Olive  Company,  the, 
357 

Vining,  Thomas,  11 1,  112 

Viper,  the,  239,  240 

Virginia,  and  the  national  capi- 
tal, loS,  116  ;  gives  bust  of 
Lafayette  to  France,  173  ; 
English  colonization  of,  249  ; 
legislature  of,  and  Lo«isville, 
514  ;  see  also  Richmond  and 
WiliLamsburg. 


Index 


60s 


w 

Waddell,  Hugh,  238,  239 
Wagner,  massacre  of,  284 
Wakefield,  Ala.,  353 
Walker,  Percy,  361 
Wallace,      Gen.     Lew,     defends 

Washington,  141 
Walnut    Hills,   Vicksburg,    433, 

438   ^ 
Walter's  Flora   Carpliniana,  272 
War  of  1812,  Southern  cities  in, 

see  individual  cities 
War,    the    Civil,    see    individual 

cities 
War  Office,  U.  S.,  126 
Warrenton,  Mississippi,  433 
Washburn,  Rev.  Cephas,  544 
Washington,  City  of,  xxix  ;  F.  A. 
Vanderlipon,  101-150;  predic- 
tion of,  103-106  ;  selection  of 
site,  106-115  ;  Washington's 
influence,  115-119;  Act  of 
1790,  116;  planning  of,  119; 
naming  of,  120;  the  Capitol, 
121  ;  the  White  House,  125  ; 
seat  of  government  removed 
to,  126  ;  agitation  for  removal 
of  capital,  130  ;  War  of  1812, 
131 -136  ;  rebuilding,  137  ; 
ante-bellum  days,  138-141  ; 
the  Civil  War,  141  ;  the  re- 
forms of  Shepherd,  142-146 
Washington,  George,  85,  87,  loi, 
150,  168,  303,  340,  492  ;  in 
Baltimore,  24  ;  at  Annapolis, 
59,  72  ;  at  Frederick,  96  ;  in 
French  and  Indian  War,  78- 
80,  85  ;  quoted,  80,  148  ; 
nominated  to  command  of 
Continental  armies,  87  ;  and 
the  genesis  of  Washington 
City,  103-119  ;  lays  corner- 
stone of  Capitol,  122  ;  re- 
tirement of,  125  ;  Houdon's 
statue  of,  165  ;  Crawford's 
statue  of,  166,  167  ;  in  Rich- 
mond,    173  ;      at    Yorktown, 


187  ;    at    Williamsburg,     196, 
214 ;    in   Charleston,    286 ;    in 
Savannah, 299,  320,  325  ;   and 
William  Blount,  452,  453 
Washington,  Wm.  A.,  84 
Washington  College,  Pa.,  208 
Washington  Monument,  the,  36, 

44 
Watauga,    settlement     of,     450, 

479,  480,  484,  486 
Watters's  Battery,  364 
Watterson,  Henry,  506,  534 
Watkins,  George  C,  548 
Wayne,  Gen.  Anthony,  at  Savan- 
nah, 318 
Weatherford,  355 
Webster,  Daniel,  xxiii,  140,  141, 

464  ;  quoted,  117 
IVeehaivken,  the,  324 
Wegg,  Atty.-Gen.  E.  R.,  343 
Weld's  Travels,  214 
Wellington,  xxx,  132  :   in  Spain, 

357 
Wells,  W.  C,    Theory  of  Deiv, 

272 
Wesley,  John,   in  Georgia,  298, 

308-310 
Wesley     Monumental     Church, 

Savannah,  310 
West,  Benjamin,  274 
West,  Joseph,  252 
West  Florida,  344,  346,  352 
Westminster  Abbey,  271 
Whetstone    Point,    Md.,    6,    11, 

22 
White  and  the  national  capital, 

"5 
White  House,  the,  125,  126,  482; 

of  the  Confederacy,  178,  179 
White,  Hugh  L.,  463-465 
White,  James,  founds  Knoxville, 

449,  451,  452 
Whitefield,   George,  in  Georgia, 

287,  298,  308,  310,  311 
"  White's  Fort,"  451 
Whitney    and    the    cotton-gin, 

298,  306 
Whittier,  98 


6o4 


Index 


Wilkinson,  Gen.  James,  takes 
Mobile,  352,  353 

William  III.,  54,  57 

William  and  Mary  College,  194, 
199,  201,  206-208,  214-216  ; 
see  also  Williamsburg 

William  of  Orange,  61 

Williamsburg,  .x.\ix,  162,  296  ; 
Lyon  G.  Tyler  on,  185-217; 
its  site,  1S5-188  ;  settlement 
of,  190 ;  Bacon's  Rebellion, 
191  ;  capital  removed  to,  194  ; 
before  the  Revolution,  196- 
201  ;  the  Convention  of  1776, 
201-204  ;  capital  removed  to 
Richmond,  206  ;  William  and 
Mary  College,  206-208  ;  social 
life  in,  208-213  ;  the  Civil 
War,  215  ;  since  the  war,  216 

Williamson,  Hugh,  228 

Wills,  Rev.  John,  233 

Wilmington,  N.  C.,  xxx  ;  Bishop 
J.  B.  Cheshire  on,  219-247  ; 
physical  background,  219- 
222  ;  neighboring  towns,  223- 
234  ;  founding  of,  234  :  early 
history,  235  -  238  ;  resists 
Stamp  Act,  238-240 ;  in  the 
Revolution,  240-244  ;  in  the 
Civil  War,  244-247 

Wilson,  Alexander,  504,  518 

Wilson,  Augusta  Evans,  376, 
377 


Winder,    Cieneral,    at     Bladens- 

burg,  132 
li'i>iona,  the,  36S 
Wirt,  \Vm.,  quoted,  174 
Wise,  Henry  A.,  i63 
Wolseley,   Lord,  on  the  siege  of 

Charleston,  2S0 
Woodbine,  355 
Woodward,     Captain,     quoted, 

380,  388 
Wragg,  Wm.,  271 
Wright,  General,  315 
Wright,  Gov.  Sir  J.,  294,  312 
Wright's  Ferry  and  the  national 

capital,  108 
Wythe,  George,  160,  213,  214 

Y 

Yale  College,  208 

Yancey    at    Montgomery,    379, 

399-404,  408 
Yarborough,  John  W.,  xxviii 
Yeamans,    Sir   John,    229,    231, 

251 
Yell,  Archibald,  548 
Yerger,  Senator  George,  440 
York,  Pa.,  lO,  II 
Yorktown,    xix,     24,    165,    186, 

1S8,  244,  299 


Zogbaum,  Rufus  Fairchild,  276 


Simencan  Historic  Toxtrns 


Historic  Towns  of  New  England 

Edited  by  Lyman  P.  Powell,     With  introduction  by 

George  P.  Morris.    With  i6i  illustrations.    Large 

8°,  gilt  top «^/  $3  oo 

Contents  :   Portland,  by  Samuel  T.   Pickard  ;   Rutland,  by 

Edwin  D.   Mead  ;  Salem,  by  George  D.   Latimer  ;   Boston,   by 

Thomas  Wentworth  Hipginson  ;  Cambridge,  by  Samuel  A.  Eliot ; 

Concord,  by  Frank  A.  Sanborn  ;  Plymouth,   by   Ellen  Watson ; 

Cape    Cod    ToTvns,    by    Katharine    Lee    Bates  ;    Deerfield,   by 

George  Sheldon  ;  Newport,  by  Susan  Coolidge  ;  Providence,  by 

William    B.    Weeden  ;   Hartford,    by    Mary    K.    Talcott  ;   New 

Haven,  by  Frederick  Hull  Cogswell. 

"These  monographs  have  permanent  literary  and  historical  value.  They 
are  from  the  pens  of  authors  who  are  saturated  with  their  themes,  and  do  not 
write  to  order,  but  can  amore.  The  beautiful  letterpress  adds  greatly  to  the 
attractiveness  of  the  book." — The  Watchman. 

"  The  authors  of  the  Boston  papers  have  succeeded  in  presenting  a  wonderfully 
interesting  account  in  which  none  of  the  more  important  events  have  been 
omitted.  .  .  .  the  quaint  Cape  Cod  towns  that  have  clung  tenaciously  to 
their  old-fashioned  ways  are  described  with  a  characteristic  vividness  by  Miss 
Bates.  .  .  .  The  other  papers  are  presented  in  a  delightfully  attractive 
manner  that  will  serve  to  make  more  deeply  cherished  the  memory  of  the  places 
described." — New  York  Times. 


Historic  Towns  of  the  Middle  States 

Edited  by  Lyman  P.  Powell.      With  introduction  by 
Dr.  Albert  Shaw.     Wi:  i  135  illustrations.     Large 

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Contents  :  Albany,  by  W.  W.  Battershall  ;  Saratoga,  by 
Ellen  H.  Walworth  ;  Schenectady,  by  Judson  S.  Landon  ;  Ne-w- 
burgh,  by  Adelaide  Skeel ;  Tarrytown,  by  H.  W.  Mabie  ;  Brook- 
lyn, by  Harrington  Putnam  ;  New  York,  by  J.  B.  Gilder  ;  Buffalo, 
by  Rowland  B.  Mahany  ;  Pittsburgh,  by  S.  H.  Church  ;  Phila- 
delphia, by  Talcott  Williams  ;  Princeton,  by  W.  M.  Sloane , 
Wilmington,  by  E.  N.  Vallandigham. 

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papers  on  important  landmarks  of  the  Middle  States.  The  writers  enter  into  the 
history  of  their  respective  towns  with  much  elaborateness." — A'.  Y.  Tribune. 


«.  P.  PUTNAM'S  SONS,  New  York  and  London 


Historic  Towns  of  the  Southern  States 

Edited  by  Lyman  P.  Powell.  With  introduction  by 
W.  P.  Trent.  With  about  175  illustrations.  Large 
8°,  gilt  top net  $3   00 

Contents  :  Baltimore,  By  St.  George  L.  Sioussat  ;  Annapolis 
and  Frederick,  by  Sara  Andrew  Shafer  ;  Washington,  by  F.  A. 
Vanderlip  ;  Richmond,  by  William  Wirt  Henry  ;  Williamsburg, 
by  Lyon  G.  Tyler  ;  Wilmington,  N,  C,  by  J.  B.  Cheshire  ; 
Charlestown,  by  Yates  Snowden  ;  Savannah,  by  Pleasant  A. 
Stoval ;  St.  Augustine,  by  G.  R.  Fairbanks  ;  Mobile,  by  Peter 
J.  Hamilton  ;  Montgomery,  by  George  Petrie  ;  New  Orleans, 
by  Grace  King  ;  Vicksburg,  by  H.  F.  Simrall  ;  Knoxville,  by 
Joshua  W.  Caldwell  ;  Nashville,  by  Gates  P.  Thruston  ;  Louis- 
ville, by  Lucien  V.  Rule  ;   Little  Rock,  by  George  B.  Rose. 

"This  very  charming  volume  is  so  exquisitely  gotten  up,  the  scheme  is  so 
perfect,  the  seventeen  writers  have  done  their  work  with  such  historical  accuracy 
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all  must  rejoice  that  Mr.  Powell  ever  attempted  to  make  the  historical  pilgrim- 
ages."— Journal  of  Education. 


Historic  Towns  of  the  Western  States 

Edited  by  Lyman  P.  Powell.  With  introduction  by 
R.  G.  Thwaites.  With  218  illustrations.  Large  8°, 
gilt  top.     (By  mail  $3.25)  .         .         .net  $3  00 

Contents  :  Detroit,  by  Silas  Farmer  ;  Chicago,  by  Hon.  Lyman 
T.  Gage;  St.  Louis,  by  F.  M.  Crunden  ;  Monterey,  by  Harold 
Bake  ;  San  Francisco,  by  Edwin  Markham ;  Portland,  by  Rev. 
Thomas  L.  Cole  ;  Madison,  by  Prof.  R.  G.  Thwaites  ;  Kansas 
City,  by  Charles  S.  Gleed  ;  Cleveland,  by  President  Charles  F. 
Thwing ;  Cincinnati,  by  Hon.  M.  E.  Ailes  ;  Marietta,  by  Muriel 
C.  Dyar  ;  Des  Moines,  by  Dr.  F.  L  Herriot  ;  Indianapolis,  by 
Hon.  Perry  S.  Heath  ■  Denver,  by  J.  C.  Dana  ;  Omaha,  by  Dr. 
Victor  Rosewater  ;  Los  Angeles,  by  Florence  E.  Winslow  ;  Salt 
Lake  City,  by  Prof.  James  E.  Talmage  ;  Minneapolis  and  St. 
Paul,  by  Hon.  Charles  B.  ElHott ;  Santa  Fe,  by  Dr.  F.  W. 
Hodge  ;  Vincennes,  by  W.  H.  Smith. 


Q,  P.  PUTNAM'S  SONS,   New  York  and  London 


A  ^A^^^^MM^Mi 


